The Tallaght hospital report made clear that the planning process at the hospital "leaves much to be desired and that there is great room for improvement", the Minister for Health told the House. During a half-hour debate on the controversy over funding at the hospital and the report, Mr Cowen categorically denied there had been selective leaking of the report or that he had ordered the leak.

The Minister wanted to resolve the issue and "the board should come back to me with the details of how it proposes to deal with the revenue overrun".

They could then proceed with funding for 1999. Mr Cowen was due to meet the board yesterday and he told deputies it was "critical that that issue is faced up to".

He said the report set out that there were important governance and general management issues that had to be addressed. He believed adequate funding had been provided.

He said the issue cast no reflection on the level of patient care provided in the hospital. The basic fact was that an allocation of £54 million was given to Tallaght hospital.

The report referred to the possibility of introducing another method of funding in respect of the opening of hospitals, Mr Cowen said. It would not have been possible in this case because the board did not appoint a financial director until September 1997, even though it was originally intended to open the hospital on January 1st, 1998. The opening was then postponed to June 1998.

Fine Gael's health spokesman, Mr Alan Shatter, said leaks from the report to Sunday newspapers undermined public confidence in the hospital.

He said there were serious governance and general management problems and the hospital board should not have discovered on the night its deliberations began that the Minister had criticised it. "That was a breach of faith which is of concern to members."

He said the Minister had an obligation to make up the shortfall. "If the Minister fails to provide funding for a proper service plan, the number on the waiting list will increase and the hospital will not be able to provide the community with the services which it was constructed to deliver."

Labour's health spokeswoman, Ms Roisin Shortall, said Tallaght "is not an impersonal business institution, it is a major hospital serving the needs of Tallaght and surrounding areas".

She said the Minister had tried to avoid responsibility for his role in the crisis. "He attempted to keep the report under wraps and sought to lay the blame for the financial crisis on the board of the hospital, but people have seen through his stance."

Democratic Left's health spokeswoman, Ms Liz McManus, praised the achievement of Tallaght hospital in transferring to the new hospital without compromising patient care and without all the financial and other problems that occurred in the opening of Beaumont hospital.