Public trust in the health service has eroded because people could no longer trust they would be treated in an appropriate way when ill, the Fine Gael health spokesman, Mr Gay Mitchell, told the Dail.

Ireland urgently needed a high quality health service based on fair criteria, not on the size of a person's bank balance, he said during a Fine Gael private members' motion on the crisis in hospital services. Despite a doubling in Government health expenditure, the proportion of GNP devoted to health was 6.5 per cent, as against a European average of 8 per cent.

Ireland ranked 22nd in the OECD in terms of health spending, despite the rapid growth in the economy, Mr Mitchell said.

In response, the Minister for Health and Children, Mr Mar- tin, said the Government was proud of its investment in the health services and had confidence in its programme for the rest of the term.

He rejected the argument that "we are throwing money down a drain and achieving nothing for people who need services".

At the heart of a successful health system were the professionals who worked within it. A key initiative was the Medical Manpower Forum, set up to address medical staffing of hospitals.

"Agreement has been reached on the principles and approaches to be adopted in relation to the main service, training, research and career issues affecting medical staff," he said. The key outcomes of its recommendations would mean a better quality service.

Mr Peter Plunkett, an accident and emergency consultant at St James's Hospital had resigned from its board because he "could no longer stand over the mess that presented itself to him on a daily basis", Ms Liz McManus, the Labour Party spokeswoman on health, said.

The health service was in crisis, she said. The haemophilia scandal was "symptomatic of some of the deficiencies that characterise our health service - under-funding, poor management and inefficient accountability".