Fine Gael today accused the Taoiseach of misleading the public about "the escalating crisis" in the health service.
The party’s health spokesman, Mr Gay Mitchell, said the growing cash crisis at major Dublin hospitals suggested the Taoiseach was "either hopelessly out of touch with or brazenly ignoring the critical situation on his own doorstep".
Fine Gael leader Mr Michael Noonan said the service remained "inefficient and unfair" and that the Government was "just throwing money at it without attacking the root causes of what is wrong".
Speaking at Mullingar General Hospital today Mr Noonan said the four empty floors of the new wing, which he said has remained empty for five years, was a fitting testimony to the Government’s monumental failure on health.
Mr Noonan said the Taoiseach was living in "fantasy land" when he described the health services as "excellent and well-resourced". But Fianna Fáil said Fine Gael’s health proposals would leave services 70 per cent short of the money needed for development. Fianna Fáil claims the service needs €5 billion in capital investment over the next five years to develop hospitals and services.
Fine Gael is proposing providing only €1.5 billion for the same period, leaving a 70 per cent shortfall, Fianna Fáil claims. "This would mean less . . . for every project that Michael Noonan has announced during his regional tour," Mr Ahern said.
If elected to government Mr Noonan said Fine Gael would deliver a better service by putting a greater emphasis on primary care. He said at the moment some people won’t visit the doctor because they can’t afford it. "That ends up costing the State a lot more, when those people need hospital care that could have been prevented".
Mr Noonan said Fine Gael will double income limits on medical card allowances and give free GP services to children up to age 18 and over-65s.
He said his party "would end forever the two-tier hospital system by opening up care to everybody through an insurance-based system, where access is determined only by medical need."
