THE IRISH health system is not responding adequately to the challenges it faces and appears to be struggling to achieve the proper balance between growth and equity, the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin has said.
In an interview on RTÉ Radio's This Week programme yesterday, Dr Diarmuid Martin said he was not aware of any country that does not have a "two-tier" health system.
"We are now going to face a situation where the Ireland which has less will have to redress the problems which emerged when Ireland actually had the money to address a good healthcare system for all," he said. "If the public services are not up to scratch, people will go elsewhere and will get better treatment."
There was, he said, a "different logic" to that of the marketplace when it comes to providing healthcare, particularly for those who are most in need.
"That means people who have got chronic illnesses, people who are poor, and children. I think that our system is not responding adequately to them at the moment.
"The problem in any society is to have this growth and equity. To have the benefits of market-driven provision for services and at the same time addressing those other services."
Dr Martin, who is a member of the board of Crumlin Children's Hospital, said he was "puzzled" by exactly what is going to happen in relation to the proposed new national children's hospital.
He noted the speed with which private hospitals have been built recently. By comparison, we have not got to the "drawing board" yet in relation to the proposed children's hospital.
"There is something in this public system which tends to delay things, and the private sector seems to have an agility that the others don't have," he said.