Hospital cutbacks dominated yesterday's meeting of the Fianna Fail parliamentary party, but there was "surprisingly little clamour" from members for extra funding, according to spokesmen.
Party chairman Dr Rory O'Hanlon said the main concern expressed during a "very long" discussion was that money should be better targeted, especially to meet the needs of the mentally handicapped and the elderly.
"Obviously, nobody is happy at the closure of hospital beds," he said. "But the united view was that it doesn't seem to make any difference how much money goes into the area.
"And phenomenal amounts of extra funding have gone in recent years."
Government Chief Whip Mr Seamus Brennan said the Minister for Health had emphasised that the health boards received block grants from the Exchequer, with "very substantial freedom" to decide where these were targeted. Mr Cowen had added there was an obligation on everybody to live within the budget allocation.
The Chief Whip said the estimate for health next year would be £3.1 billion, a "substantial" increase on last year.
Apart from health, the meeting featured continued debate on social welfare. It also agreed that the problems in farming would be discussed at a meeting today of the party's agriculture committee.
