An end to private care in public hospitals, medical cards for all and local community health clinics are among the key measures in the Green Party's healthcare plan, published yesterday.
The party is also advocating the appointment of a Junior Minister for Preventive Healthcare and a Health Ombudsman.
The party's foreign affairs spokesman, Mr John Gormley TD, said at the launch that he would be disappointed if the general election did not see a doubling of the party's Dáil representation to four.
The key principle behind the party's health policy, he said, was that "prevention is better than cure".
"We have produced a health strategy that is designed to produce a healthy society and not repair an unhealthy one."
A statutory health impact assessment should be mandatory when permission is sought for any new development.
The extension would be phased in over five years, with children getting the medical card immediately.
Public hospitals would have a single waiting list for public and private patients - so that private patients would not be treated more quickly by virtue of being private. Private treatment would be phased out of the public hospitals completely.
Mr Niall Ó Brolcháin, the party's joint spokesperson - with Cllr Deirdre de Burca - on health, said the Greens wanted to create smaller hospitals and clinics closer to patients so that people could be treated as near as possible to where they lived.
"A strong emphasis will be placed on outreach services from these clinics, recognising that the preferred place of residence for those in need of care is often at home," he said.
Cllr de Burca criticised the abolition in January of rules which had placed restrictions on people who wished to establish new pharmacies.
There was now a real danger local pharmacies would disappear, with the sector taken over by multinational retailers, she said.