  A model for the p d --> p d eta reaction published earlier, including the
final state interaction (FSI) of all particles, is revisited to investigate the
low energy data on this reaction. The three body problem of p-d-eta scattering
in the final state is approximated in terms of pairwise interactions between
the three particles in the final state. Apart from a comparison with some
preliminary data, two new findings relevant to the near threshold data analysis
are reported. The first one points toward the limitations of an FSI factor used
conventionally to extract the eta-deuteron scattering length and infer
subsequently on the existence of eta-mesic states. The second result emphasizes
the role of the $p-d$ FSI and the strong Coulomb repulsion near threshold.
Finally, a comparison of the above model calculation with low energy data,
excludes very large eta-nucleon scattering lengths.
