Sarah Harte: We could fund universal healthcare — the issue is whether we want to

We no longer live in a nasty, narrow theocracy but nor are we anywhere near a universal model of healthcare

Attitudes are changing, but gender equality will ultimately remain a pipedream as long as women perform the bulk of unpaid and underpaid caregiving.

Last week Alan Gilsenan’s impressive film, The Seven Ages of Noël Browne, looked back at his controversial Mother and Child Scheme. It was 72 years ago when Browne attempted to introduce it, but neither the scheme nor his broader vision of universal healthcare ever came to pass.

Browne as minister for health in the John A Costello coalition was ousted before he could achieve either.