Labour Party leader Mr Ruairi Quinn has accused the Government of dithering and failing to produce an effective health strategy.
In what is likely to become a pre-election campaign on hospital care, Mr Quinn rounded on the Government for failing to take early action on waiting lists and in changing the two-tier health system. A study of hospital waiting lists by experts linked to Harvard University, he said, provided proof of the need for radical reform and highlighted the divided nature of Irish healthcare.
Referring to a report of the findings in yesterday's Irish Times, Mr Quinn said the research accorded with the Labour Party's approach to health reform and showed those dependent on the public system, including those without medical cards, fared worst.
Because of Cabinet infighting, he said, the Irish public still did not know if the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, was prepared to fund some of the initiatives suggested by the Minister for Health, Mr Martin.
The Government's health strategy, which had been promised for last June, still had to be published, he said, and it was time for the delay to end.
Mr Martin declined to comment on the report yesterday. A spokeswoman for his Department said the Minister was likely to respond to the waiting list report today.
One of the key findings of the Harvard University report spoke of "the ethical responsibility of government to ensure timely, universal access to the acute system of healthcare on the basis of clinical need".