Health promises - Universal cover must be achieved

Last week, the HSE admitted that more than 5,600 patients in Limerick have been waiting four years or more for an outpatient appointment.

Across the country, 105,632 people have been waiting for more than a year for a first consultant outpatient appointment.

In a country with such inefficiencies in its public health system it is not hard to understand why private health insurance is — or was — so very popular.