The Government is calling back €15 million of unspent money from a fund established to reduce hospital waiting lists in order to meet its public spending cutbacks target.
The National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) was set up to offer private treatment to 10,000 public patients by the end of 2003, and was a key plank in the Government's National Health Strategy.
Both the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, and the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, said during the general election campaign that the fund - which was suggested by the Progressive Democrats - would help achieve its target of eliminating hospital waiting lists within two years.
The fund was allocated an initial €25 million to get private treatment for public patients, many of whom have been waiting several years for operations.
Last night the Department of Health confirmed to The Irish Times that €15 million of the €25 million set aside for the NTPF this year would be used to help it reach its cutbacks target sought by the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy.
A Department spokeswoman said last night that this does not represent a cut as it was money that was not going to be spent this year as the NTPF was only up and running from July.
The Department of Health has been told to find €38 million in cuts. Apart from the €15 million from the NTPF fund, it will save €10 million by not filling 800 jobs in the health sector, €7 million on increases in the drugs repayment scheme, €3 million on increases in private bed charges and €3 million on increasing Accident and Emergency charges.
These cuts have been revealed in "drip-feed" announcement by the Department in recent weeks.
Last night Labour Party leader, Mr Ruairí Quinn, said the move represented a spending cut no matter what gloss the Government was trying to put on it. He described it as "the single most hypocritical cut carried out by this Government since its re-election.
"In defence of its hypocrisy, the Government is arguing that the delay arising from its incompetence in establishing the fund justifies the cutback. This hardly stands up in light of the Taoiseach's specific commitment on waiting lists to the Irish people and the exaggerated claims made about the treatment purchase scheme."It is becoming clearer day-by-day that the Fianna Fáil and Progressive Democrats election campaigns amount to no more than an exercise in deceit and dishonesty."
The Government announced the establishment of the NTPF last November, but doctors did not start to send patients for treatment until July. The Department said that so far 300 patients have received treatment at an average cost of €3,000 each.
Treatment is to be offered to adults who have spent more than a year on the hospital waiting list and to children who have been more than six months on the list.
The fund is to buy spare capacity in private hospitals in the Republic and will also be used to send patients for treatment in Northern Ireland and Britain starting next month.
The project director of the NTPF, Ms Maureen Lynott, said last night that there was no question of a cutback in the budget for the fund.
"This is money we have not spent. We have been assured that there will be no cutbacks in funding for next year and that the Government is fully committed to the scheme," she said.
There is increasing concern in Government circles that the public spending cutbacks, necessary to allow Mr McCreevy return a budget surplus, may backfire during the Nice Treaty campaign.
