The Minister for Health has denied that the decision to allocate additional staff to the accident and emergency unit at Ennis Hospital has undermined the Hanly health reform policy.
Mr Martin was yesterday accused of an about-turn on the policy after he announced that Ennis would retain its 24-hour accident and emergency service.
The Minister appeared in Ennis alongside Fianna Fáil local election candidates in Co Clare on Thursday when making the announcement.
Labour's health spokeswoman, Ms Liz McManus, said the Hanly plan was now defunct because it was based on the idea that local hospitals such as Ennis would not retain their accident services.
"It's a flip-flop," she said, accusing Mr Martin of dishonesty. "Now we have the Minister taking a contradictory position to Hanly himself. They are actually diametrically opposed. It's pure cynicism."
She went on: "Hanly could not be more specific. It says very clearly that medical emergency care should be at major hospitals. The whole trust and basis to Hanly was of a configuration change, a clustering of hospitals."
Ms McManus accused Fianna Fáil of electioneering over the future of the services in Ennis, where some 15,000 people marched in protest against the Hanly plan last November.
She was in turn accused by a spokeswoman for Mr Martin of a "selective and opportunistic" attack on the Minister.
The spokeswoman maintained that the retention of the Ennis accident and emergency service and of the service at Nenagh Hospital was signalled on March 14th by the Mid-Western Health Board when it took out newspaper advertisements seeking staff for the units.
She said there was no question of any pulling back from the Hanly proposals. However, she noted that the group appointed to implement the report had not met because of the Government's dispute with consultants over medical indemnity.
She said Mr Martin had been saying since February that local hospitals would retain 24-hour accident and emergency services, albeit on a smaller scale than those in the major hospitals.
