The ardfheis condemned the Government for failing to provide proper funding for Tallaght hospital. In an emergency motion it also criticised the failure of the Minister for Health "to enable the hospital to provide the comprehensive medical care for which it was constructed".
Proposing the motion, Ms Jane Lehane of the Dublin South said: "The people of south Dublin and the people of Tallaght are entitled to expect that this state of the art hospital will be treated fairly. This will not happen while the present Minister for Health is in charge."
Delegates also condemned Mr Cowen for his failure to take action on hospital waiting lists, to provide greater funding for health promotion and to take court proceedings against tobacco companies.
Summing up the debate, the party spokesman on health, Mr Alan Shatter, said: "We have under this Government an incompetent Minister for Health presiding over a dysfunctional Department with a manana mentality. Nothing is seen as sufficiently urgent in its impact on the lives of people to merit immediate action.
"Neither the Minister for Health nor his Department has yet come to terms with the needs of our growing population or put in place the radical changes required to ensure those needs are properly met."
He pledged that Fine Gael in government would "launch a crusade" against the tobacco companies and publish a charter of patients' rights.