Fine Gael will today seek to reignite the row over nursing home charges by highlighting an internal Department of Health memo on the role of special advisers to the then minister, Micheál Martin.
The Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children will today begin hearings into the controversy. One of the areas it will examine is the claim by Mr Martin that he was never told by his officials, advisers or ministers of state about legal opinion suggesting that the charges levied on medical card patients in public nursing homes were illegal.
Fine Gael health spokesman Dr Liam Twomey will raise a memo drawn up by the then secretary general of the department, Michael Kelly, in early 2000 on the role of special advisers.
Dr Twomey said last night that the memo suggested that the advisers were seen by officials as "proxies" for the minister and that they were "in the chain of command in the department".
In the memo to senior officials in the Department of Health, Mr Kelly urged: "Any policy documents being submitted to the minister should be copied to the relevant adviser.
"The relevant adviser should be made aware of and invited to key meetings concerning either a policy change or high-profile topic/incident".
However, the memo also maintains that "none of the above precludes direct contact between the minister and members of staff of the department, in accordance with normal practice".
The memo and its implications will also be raised with Mr Kelly.
Mr Kelly's appearance before the committee to give his first public account of the nursing home charges controversy has been deferred for a week.
Mr Kelly, who was moved from his post by the Cabinet in the wake of the Travers report, was to have been given evidence to the committee tomorrow.
It is understood that Mr Kelly, whose testimony to the official Travers report on "who knew what and when" in relation to the charges directly conflicted with that of then minister for health Micheál Martin, will now appear next week.
Mr Kelly has claimed that he briefed Mr Martin on the controversy, however, Mr Martin has maintained that he knew nothing about the issue.
The committee will today question the author of the report, John Travers.
Labour Party health spokeswoman Liz McManus last night said she would be questioning Mr Travers "as to why he did not pursue Mr Martin, his two then ministers of state, Ivor Callely and Tim O'Malley, or the two political advisers in the Department of Health on their political responsibilities for the controversy".
The two ministers of state and the political advisers were at a meeting with top health board officials in December 2003 at which the issue of the charges was discussed. Mr Martin was late arriving at that meeting and has claimed that he was not informed of the proceedings.
Over the coming weeks Opposition deputies will seek to find and expose any inconsistencies between the testimony provided by ministers on the charges controversy to the Travers report and their accounts before the committee.
The committee will also seek the publication of the legal opinion obtained by the South Eastern Health Board in 2003 which the Government has refused to divulge. The Irish Times understands that the document also questions the legality of charges levied on medical card patients in private nursing homes.
Minister for Health Mary Harney, meanwhile, will bring a aide memoire to cabinet tomorrow on the repayment of money charged illegally to patients in nursing homes. However, no decisions are expected.
