The alternative coalition partners of Fine Gael and Labour continued their war of words with Fianna Fáil over plans for the health service and the provision of additional acute hospital beds, in their final press briefings of a long election campaign.
Fine Gael again insisted that the general election would be a "referendum" on the health services and that it could deliver 2,300 hospital beds within five years. Labour said the Fianna Fáil plan to co-locate private hospitals alongside public hospitals by providing tax breaks to private developers to build them was "a public scandal" and a "disgrace".
Fine Gael deputy leader and finance spokesman Richard Bruton said at the end of three weeks of accusations and counter-accusations over the cost and means of delivery of their respective health plans, that Fianna Fáil had conducted a "relentlessly negative" campaign based on "fear, fanciful lies and distortions".
Fine Gael deputy leader Richard Bruton
Fianna Fáil responded that Fine Gael was following a policy of "inventing targets in order to attack them".
Mr Bruton said Fianna Fáil had not provided value for money to the taxpayer in its health plans and that the party was making up plans as it went along.
"I think this this Thursday really marks the end of an era - a decade of Fianna Fáil and PD broken promises that really go to the heart of people's trust in politics. And for me, this Government's time is up and it's time to restore people's confidence in politics, to restore people's faith in a government that not only pledges promises, but puts its reputation on the line and delivers the promises it makes."
Mr Bruton said "even a casual read" of the National Development Plan showed that the cost of Fine Gael's proposal to provide 2,300 additional acute hospital beds was provided for. Fianna Fáil has accused Fine Gael of not costing the plan to deliver those beds, but Fine Gael said the estimated €850 million cost would be paid for out of a €5,000 million contingency fund in the NDP.
Mr Bruton said Fianna Fáil had failed to accurately cost its co-location plan and that its estimated cost had varied from €70 million a year - or €490 million over five years - to as low as €40 million, before increasing again today in the course of a Fianna Fáil press conference.
Fine Gael's health spokesman Dr Liam Twomey said the Fianna Fail manifesto was "incredibly vague on detail".
Dr Twomey said Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats had "no ideas" for the health service, whereas Fine Gael and Labour had a "specific, realistic plan" and could deliver its promised 2,300 beds on time.
On the co-location plan, Dr Twomey said one of the only times he had agreed with Minister for Health Mary Harney was when she said that a new contract was needed for consultants.
Minister for Health Brian Lenihan
"When she talked about bringing in a new public only consultants' contract back at the beginning of 2006, we backed her back then. Unfortunately, she let the issue drop for a full year until it came up to this election. So if we bring in a public only consultants' contract and we put 2,300 beds into the public system, we have more beds and consultants to look after patients in our healthcare system. And present consultants have a watertight contract that was given to them by Charlie Haughey, and it's very difficult to break that contract."
Labour Party leader Pat Rabbitte also criticised the Government's plan to allow the construction of private hospitals on the grounds of public hospitals, offering tax breaks to the developers, as part of its co-location plan.
He said taxpayers would be "shocked" to learn that €70 million a year was being spent on providing these tax breaks to private developers.
"It will cost the taxpayer almost half a billion euro in tax incentives for wealthy private developers to implement the government's plan for co-location of super-private clinics on public hospital lands," he said.
The Labour party leader said the public hospital system would lose an annual income of up to €145 million because they would no longer benefit from payments now being made by private health insurance companies.
"It is the unprecedented bountifulness of the resources over the last 15 years that can enable any of these guys to go out saying that they are effective economic managers," Mr Rabbitte said.
Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children Brian Lenihan said that in the last full day of the election campaign, Fine Gael "has been following the policy of inventing targets in order to attack them".
"Having seen their 'contract' dismantled they have nothing positive left to say."
He said they had so far today "deliberately spread various scare stories about health, education and jobs".
"The issues in this election are about how we can protect and build upon the progress which Ireland has seen over the last ten years. Fine Gael refused to join in an honest debate about the issues and is now lashing out all around them. The Irish people will not be fooled by this last-minute aggression."