Local elections Last month's local elections may have led some candidates to play on fears about the implications of the Hanly report to encourage people to vote for them, the Minister for Health and Children, Mr Martin, has said.
Speaking after the launch of the €25 million Dublin City University (DCU) School of Nursing last week, Mr Martin said the concept of a hospital candidate was not new in Irish politics.
But he believed society had a choice to make regarding the quality of care it expected from its hospitals.
"To a large extent, Hanly didn't get a run at all [in the elections]," he said.
"And really what happened was everyone just said I'm going to wrap the hospital around me. And vote for me because I'm going to save your hospital kind of line.
"And that's what's going on in politics."
In a strong defence of the Hanly report, Mr Martin said the two implementation groups would be working with local communities and hospitals to work out solutions in the context its principles.
"We certainly need more consultants and we certainly need a consultant-provided system," he said.
"We listen to what the people are saying. I've assured people in relation to Accident and Emergency services that they are not going to close.
"I've assured people that investment in hospitals is going to continue... we're not going to downgrade hospitals."
DCU's new School of Nursing is Ireland's first purpose-built university nursing school, providing teaching and research facilities for over 850 students and 60 members of academic staff.
It includes a nursing skills centre, communication suites, teaching and research space, restaurant facilities and a "healthy living" centre.
The opening of the school comes at a time when the Irish Nurses Organisation (INO) claims that 70 per cent of newly qualified nurses leave the Irish health system within two years - a figure which Mr Martin disputes.
Speaking at the opening, Prof Anne Scott, head of the School of Nursing, said the school's opening marked a "significant milestone" for nursing education in Ireland.
"The introduction of nursing degree programmes, greater emphasis on nursing research and the development of nurses as policy-makers have all contributed to the enhanced profile of nurses in Ireland," Prof Scott said.
The school has been funded by Mr Martin's Department of Health and Children following recommendations contained in the report of the Commission on Nursing.
This report advocated the establishment of a national strategy for the education of nurses.