Sinn Féin health spokesman Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin has said the core elements of the Government’s health policy are in “freefall”.

Mr Ó Caoláin described as “quite unprecedented” what he called Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s public reprimanding of Minister for Health Leo Varadkar.

“We have to recognise that the core elements of this Government’s health policy are clearly in freefall,” he said.

He said the Government’s policy objectives were not clear. Many of the “early delivery” promises were clearly not going to happen before the end of the year.

The Coalition was in the process of “abandoning” many of its pledges, he added.

He said the roll-out of free GP care for children under the age of six and people over 70 were only supposed to be initial elements towards a universal access to free GP care, building towards universal health care.

Mr Ó Caoláin was speaking on the second and final day of Sinn Féin’s think-in in Termonfeckin, Co Louth.

Yesterday party leader Gerry Adams described the Government's health policy as being "in tatters".

Minister for Health Leo Varadkar has intensified his demands for a € 500 million supplementary budget estimate this year.He is said to have told a private meeting at the Fine Gael "think-in" in Co Cork yesterday that the true level of his department's budget adjustment in 2014 is €900 million, comprising a "demand-led" spending overrun of €500 million and €400 million in separate cutbacks.