Opposition parties have reacted with cynicism to revelations that the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, has recently been seeking Cabinet backing to open hospital facilities worth over €400 million this summer.
Many of the facilities have been lying idle for months and even years.
Mr Martin, in an aide memoire for Government compiled at the end of March, said funding had not been provided for the opening of the units in either 2003 or 2004 because existing levels of services had to be maintained under Government spending restraints.
"If these units are not opened in 2004, the investment that has already been made in the units will not be properly utilised. It should be noted that there is an ongoing cost to the Exchequer in maintaining completed and vacant facilities by way of security, depreciation and other non-pay costs e.g. heating," the memo stated. Its contents were published in the Sunday Tribune yesterday.
Labour's health spokeswoman, Ms Liz McManus, questioned the timing of the drawing up of the document. It appeared, she said, the idle facilities had been stored up, only for the Government "to turn on the tap" before the upcoming local elections.
She criticised the fact that so many facilities were lying idle while money was "squandered" on e-voting and Punchestown.
Fine Gael's health spokeswoman, Ms Olivia Mitchell, also confessed to being "highly sceptical" about the timing of the memo. "They seem to have suddenly discovered two months before an election that there are all these facilities idle," she said.
If the Cabinet goes along with Mr Martin's memo, hundreds of new beds will be opened at facilities in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway, Naas, Tipperary, Donegal, Mayo and Mullingar and up to 1,500 extra staff will be taken on. It is understood discussions are ongoing between the Departments of Health and Finance on how the package could be funded.
Ms McManus will be raising the memo in the Dáil this week.
When the most recent waiting list figures were published in December, there were still over 27,000 patients on hospital waiting lists.