HEALTH AND IRELAND - Required reading for new minister

Where you live in Ireland can have a fundamental bearing on your health.

Never before has that fact of life, or death, been reflected in greater detail than in today’s major Irish Examiner supplement on the health of the nation.

Its fascinating insights into the health of the people are given on a county-by-county basis, the results of minute examination of existing statistics in relation to certain major illnesses across some 20 health categories including respiratory diseases, heart attack, stroke, cancer, and diabetes. Infant mortality rates and the level of disability among children are also scrutinised geographically. The numbers of GPs are given for every county.