A plan to make doctors and dentists publicly display their prices has been abandoned by the Government, a year after it promised to introduce the measure.
The Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mr Martin, said he has dropped the idea "for legal and practical reasons".
The move was promised in November last year by his predecessor, the Tánaiste, Ms Harney, on foot of a request by the director of consumer affairs, Ms Carmel Foley. She asked Ms Harney to make an order under the Consumer Information Act requiring doctors, dentists and allied health professionals to display their prices, as restaurants and hairdressers are legally bound to do.
The Tánaiste said at the time she was "very positive" about the idea and hoped to implement it in a matter of weeks.
However, in a written Dáil reply to a question from Labour's enterprise spokesman, Mr Brendan Howlin TD, Mr Martin said he had had to examine whether a price display order for doctors and dentists could be effectively enforced.
"My considered view is that it would not be possible to enforce the present proposal and that consequently it would not be appropriate for me to make such an order."
The decision was described by a Labour Party spokesman as an "astonishing U-turn on the part of the Government".
Research done by the party, he said, showed that the cost of attending a GP had doubled since 1997.
"In those circumstances it would seem unbelievable not to require medical professionals to display their prices in common with other sectors."
A spokesman for the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) said it had never opposed the measure, but had pointed to "logistical problems" at meetings with the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment.
Dr Martin Daly, chairman of the IMO's general practitioners' committee, said these arose from the wide range of services provided by GPs. Many doctors already displayed a "basic menu" of prices. However, more than 80 separate consultative services had been identified which would have had to be itemised and priced to comply with a Ministerial order, he said.
Mr Martin's spokeswoman said legal advice was that it would not have been possible to enforce the order without accessing patients' records.There had also been a fear that the consumer might not benefit, as forcing doctors to itemise each service might have resulted in some fees going up.
