Tangled web of the blame game

THE agenda for the Irish Medical Organisation’s AGM and the choice of the Minister for Health as guest speaker were planned well in advance, but in the days leading up to it, the event began to resemble an ever-widening spider’s web and Micheál Martin a hapless fly heading straight for its sticky centre.

With the public health doctors' dispute deepening and the SARS crisis growing, it seemed the minister could at best hope to come away from the encounter with his wings dented and at worst, face a public devouring.

He might have been expected to tiptoe around the edges hoping not to get too entangled, but instead he torpedoed right through it, with a blistering attack in which he charged the striking doctors with putting lives at risk and accused senior managers of "total abandonment of responsibility".