Opposition parties today rejected Minister for Health Mary Harney's claim that cutbacks in the health service would not affect patient care.
Fine Gael health spokesman James Reilly, a GP, said Ms Harney's statements today could not be believed.
"Since the return of Fianna Fáil and the PDs to Government, the exposure of big lies about health have completely undermined any credibility they might have had," Mr Reilly said.
He said that immediately prior to the May general election, a plan to cut 1,000 health sector jobs had been "exposed".
He added that a Government commitment during the election campaign that the A&E service at Ennis hospital was safe had now also proven wrong. He said Minister for Health Mary Harney had confirmed yesterday that the 24-hour service is to be abolished.
"In January of this year we learned that the Health Minister's plans for cancer treatment services could not be delivered according to her timeline and would be delayed by at least three years. Not only that but we discovered the Minister had failed to even consult with the HSE before announcing the plan," Mr Reilly said.
Labour Party health spokeswoman Jan O'Sullivan said the Minister "cannot continue to bury her head in the sand and ignore all the available evidence" by suggesting patient care would not be affected by the embargo on recruitment by the HSE.
"Evidence is now emerging on virtually a daily basis showing that the staffing restrictions and budget cuts are leading to ward closures and delays in patients receiving badly needed treatment," she said.
"How can Mary Harney and [HSE chief executive] Brendan Drumm seriously argue that loss of 40 staff at Sligo General Hospital will not impact on the quality of care available to patients in that region?"
The National Implementation Body today said the temporary ban on recruitment, imposed by the HSE earlier this month, as well as other cost-cutting measures, had been introduced without consultation and breached the latest social partnership agreement.
Sinn Féin health spokesman Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin said Ms Harney and Mr Drumm were "losing touch with reality".
"How else can one explain Professor Drumm's assertion that the use of hotels is a way forward for hospitals? If patients need to be in hospital they should be in hospital beds. If they do not need to be in hospital then they should be at home and with access to appropriate primary care and secondary care. The hotel 'solution' is a recipe for dumping patients for whom there are not enough hospital beds."