Fianna Fáil has claimed that tax breaks for its co-located hospitals would cost €40m annually and not the €70m figure quoted by the Minister for Finance, Brian Cowen, last night.
At its final news conference of the election campaign, Fianna Fáil insisted co-location was the quickest and most efficient way of providing extra beds.
Dún Laoghaire candidate Mary Hanafin said it was physically not possible to build 2,300 extra beds as promised by the Opposition.
Séamus Brennan, a Dublin-South candidate, said there was no precise figure and as ministers fielded further questions an adviser to Brian Cowen, Colin Hunt, intervened to say the true cost would not be €70m but €40m annually after tax buoyancy was taken into account.
He denied that his minister had got his figures wrong and Séamus Brennan continued to insist the scheme represented value for money.
Labour's Pat Rabbitte called the Government's hospital co-location plan 'a disgrace and a scandal' and said they deserved to be defeated on that issue alone.
Fine Gael has said Fianna Fáil are 'twisting in the wind' and had failed to accurately cost the hospital co-location proposal.
At their party's final news conference of the election campaign, deputy leader Richard Bruton accused Fianna Fáil of 'making it up as they go along' and said that every day their envelope of tax changes gets bigger as they try to buy off different groups.
Health spokesperson Liam Twomey said the co-location plan had the appearance of being thought up by ministers 'over a glass of wine' rather than being properly thought out.
