SF unveils plans for all-Ireland healthcare system

ONLY people with wealth can buy health in Ireland’s unequal healthcare system, Sinn Féin claimed yesterday.

The party, which launched an All-Ireland policy document, is calling on the public to support a national day of action on the issue on May 13.

The party’s Healthcare in an Ireland of Equals blueprint called for universal access to health services, a new Health Funding Commission to study the costs of a 32-county system and the abolition of any privatisation of healthcare.

MEP Mary Lou McDonald said she had met elderly women who were afraid to go to hospital. She said universal healthcare would not be possible with the current coalition in power.

Sinn Féin’s Dáil leader Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin claimed the party’s bilingual 64-page policy document was the most progressive policy presented by any political party in Ireland.

“People campaigning to retain services in local hospitals are being told these services are not viable.

“But if you are a property speculator who wants to avoid tax by developing a private hospital you will get a massive tax break from the Fianna Fáil/PD government no matter where you locate your profit-driven facility.”

Mr Ó Caoláin claimed the money spent so far on tax breaks for private hospitals and on the troubled computer systems for the HSE could have funded an additional 1,000 public hospital beds. The Cavan-Monaghan TD said he believed that the party will be able to win support on issues like public-only work for hospital consultants.

“This is a huge, huge change. It’s going to take time and take convincing. The weight of the sense behind this approach will, in time, win the support of everybody.”

The Government was reinforcing the unequal and inefficient public-private health system in this state, he added.

“We reject that system where people with wealth are guaranteed access to the best private services while others must suffer on trolleys and on waiting lists,” he added.

“We are proposing root and branch reform, the establishment of an all-Ireland health service with access based on need and not on ability to pay or geographic location. We want access for all, free at the point of delivery, in an equitable system funded by fair and progressive taxation.”