Minister for Health Mary Harney denied a claim that a Government adviser had verbally abused an HSE employee about the care of the elderly.
Fine Gael health spokesman Dr Liam Twomey claimed: "A Government ministerial adviser was seen shouting at an HSE employee about why elderly patients were not moved out of hospitals and into the private sector fast enough."
Ms Harney interjected: "Who is the adviser? Will the deputy name the person?" Dr Twomey said that he would not.
When Ms Harney renewed her challenge to have the adviser named, Dr Twomey said: "The Minister should ask her advisers. I am sure her relationship with them is good enough for them to tell her."
Ms Harney insisted that the claim was a "lie".
Asked by Ceann Comhairle Dr Rory O'Hanlon to withdraw the word "lie", the Minister said: "I did not state that the deputy is lying. I stated the information he gave is not correct."
Dr Twomey had earlier said his party would not support the legislation because it did not go far enough.
"According to the Government, this Bill covers patient protection. It does not put the patient at the centre of the health services, however, so how could we possibly support it? It is supposed to protect patients, but it could have gone much further. The Government is verging on negligence in protecting patients. People have lost trust in the organisation the Minister established, the HSE, and they are quickly losing trust in her personally because she is failing on the core issue of patient safety."
Dr Twomey claimed that the HSE had allowed old people to live in neglect and danger at Leas Cross nursing home.
"Every day, in accident and emergency departments, people are left waiting in third world conditions. The Minister was supposed to deal with that, but she has clearly not done so."
Sinn Féin spokesman CaoimhghíÓ Caoláin claimed the Bill was too little, too late. The Government had set a target date of 2003 for the establishment of the social services inspectorate on a statutory basis. That, he added, was to be in tandem with the establishment of the Health Information and Quality Authority.
However, the Bill to establish the fully fledged authority, and to put the inspectorate on a statutory footing, was only now coming before the Dáil.
Sinn Féin, said Mr Ó Caoláin, would establish a health ombudsman.
