An attempt to get a breakdown of public and private procedures carried out by individual consultants in Southern Health Board area hospitals was refused yesterday.
The board said the information would leave it open to legal action by consultants.
Mr Bernard Allen TD, a member of the Southern Health Board, asked for in-patient and out-patient waiting lists and "statistics for private and public surgical procedures and other treatment procedures in each speciality by each consultant in all our health board hospitals".
Divulging specific information without the permission of individual consultants "could involve a breach of contract" and leave health board managers open to being sued by consultants, Mr Batt O'Keeffe, chairman of the SHB, said.
The board could write individually to each consultant and get their permission, he added, but nothing in the board's common contract with the consultants permitted the board to divulge details.
Mr Allen said he was "shocked and appalled" that his motion should have been discussed by a health board subcommittee, where it was decided to seek legal advice on his request, without his knowledge. He accused the consultants on the board of "protecting their own people".
He said he simply wanted the true figures to assist him in his work as a health board member.
However, Dr Tim O' Connor said all the information Mr Allen requested was there, except that which related to an individual's privacy.
And Mr George Mullan, a consultant and member of the board, said Mr Allen's type of request would not be tolerated by any union. It was unfair to have such constant nipping at the heels by councillors and politicians suggesting consultants were doing too much private work and not enough public.
However, Mr Joe Sherlock asked why the health board could not divulge the breakdown, as it was in charge of the hospitals. The request will be raised again at the next board meeting.
There had been a 40 per cent reduction in in-patient waiting lists to 600 since January 2000 at Cork University Hospital. Overall, 26.5 per cent of procedures in medicine and 25.9 per cent in surgery there were private, the report said.