The Government is pressing ahead with the new Sláintecare contract despite the rejection of the contract by the consultant bodies. This means consultants appointed to public hospitals will be paid a salary and will no longer have private practice rights within the public hospital. The Government hopes this will deliver care based on need not income, the single-tier system.
Unfortunately, the new contract will not deliver a single-tier system, as private practice in private hospitals will be allowed under the new contract. This practice will be funded by fees through private health insurance.
According to research by the Health Equity Research Group in the OECD, private health insurance in Ireland is the single largest contributory factor to inequitable access to hospital care in Ireland.
In addition, behavioural economics research shows that private health insurance fees incentivise doctors to give quicker access to care, increases patient satisfaction, and reduces waiting lists, while salaried systems, similar to that proposed under the Sláintecare contract do not incentivise efficient provision of care but actually promote patient dissatisfaction through long waiting lists, a plague within our public hospital system.
The new contract will therefore ensure the persistence of care based on income not need, the two-tier system.
Politicians of all parties who agreed the Sláintecare policy also agreed that private health insurance should continue as a funding system because of their failure to recognise, or indeed be properly advised of the impact of payment systems on doctors’ behaviours, and have thereby guaranteed the continued existence of an inequitable two-tier hospital care system.
Given the state of our inadequate public hospital infrastructure, inequality in Irish hospital care may increase as a result of the new contract in the medium term and may persist indefinitely based on the income incentives consultants receive through health insurance fees.
A policy of health insurance for all residents of the State, with all doctors remunerated equally for patient care would be the most appropriate method of delivering a single-tier system of hospital care. Patients would no longer be labelled as “private” or “public”, they would just be patients, having access to care based on need not income.
The Dutch government successfully implemented that policy in 2006 and it is a great pity our politicians did not do so here when the opportunity arose in 2011.
Dr John Barton
Consultant physician/cardiologist
(retired, Portiuncula Hospital)
Ballymoneen Rd, Galway
Expiration of eviction ban is heartless
The Government’s decision to lift the eviction ban in current circumstances is heartless and reckless with many struggling to believe it. The decision was taken full in the knowledge that the consequences of it will be more citizens facing homelessness in the coming period because they cannot afford exorbitant rents or some property owners see an opportunity to squeeze more money out of their asset. And this is happening where the Government has utterly failed to provide accessible homes for citizens. Where will the evicted go?
Senior members of our Government seem to have become enchanted by unbridled capitalism and its pecuniary logic. One of the glaring consequences of this State is a failure to see others as human beings. It is noted that in statements from ministers people are constantly referred to as “renters”. It is a clear attempt to dehumanise those who are about to become victims.
Government policy is putting an increasing strain on cohesion and this decision will add greatly to the growing feeling that we are not all in this together. Communities will fracture. History tells what can happen when such matters get out of hand. It is time that this Government diverted its adoring gaze from mammon and realised that serving people is its primary function before irreversible damage to the fabric of our society is done.
Jim O’Sullivan
Rathedmond, Sligo
Apology needed for Civil War crimes
March 7 was the centenary of the Ballyseedy massacre. Lest they be forgotten, the prisoners’ names were Patrick Buckley, John Daly, Pat Hartnett, Michael O’Connell, John O’Connor, George O’Shea, James Walsh, and Tim Tuomey. Stephen Fuller survived.
The trauma and divisions in Irish society caused by this and other atrocities committed by both sides in the civil war were still evident in the commemoration ceremonies a century later, with two separate ceremonies held on March 5.
The present Government which includes Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael is refusing to issue a State apology for this and other war crimes committed during the Civil War.
Reconciliation is vital after any violent conflict, otherwise such conflicts are likely to reignite. About 1,600 died in the Civil War, and almost 4,000 have died because of the more recent conflict in Northern Ireland. The centenary of the Civil War should have been used by all the parties involved in these conflicts to renounce violence into the future. This renunciation of violence should also be applied to Ireland’s involvement in international affairs including the Ukrainian conflict. There are always peaceful alternatives to wars towards resolving conflicts and it is never too late to begin reconciliation.
Edward Horgan
Castletroy, Co Limerick
Correct the record on Ballyseedy
The no-holds-barred interview given by Pat Butler to Jerry
O’Sullivan of Radio Kerry before the screening of the RTÉ drama-documentary Ballyseedy at Siamsa Tíre, Tralee recently left no one in any doubt that there is unfinished business hanging over the Ballyseedy massacre of the 1922-23 Civil War.
On the night of March 7, 1923, nine Republican prisoners were forcibly taken to Ballyseedy Cross by Free State soldiers. There they were bound hand and foot and roped together in ring formation around a log under which landmines had been set. The landmines were then exploded killing eight of the prisoners. One prisoner, Stephen Fuller was hurled across the road by the force of the explosion and survived to tell the true story of Ballyseedy.
The inquiry into the Ballyseedy massacre by the Free State government was a complete whitewash as it was chaired by Major General Paddy O’Daly, who many believe had ordered the killings.
The inquiry report blamed Republican soldiers for planting the explosives and claimed that those killed were accidentally blown up by their own landmines. The report totally exonerated the Free State soldiers, and was read into the Dáil records by the Free State army’s commander in chief and minister for defence, Richard Mulcahy.
The Government needs to put the record straight about what really happened at Ballyseedy.
Pat Butler’s forensic research and Stephen Fuller’s factual account of the event provide indisputable evidence that the Dáil records of Ballyseedy are pure fiction. The martyrs of that infamous night and sole survivor Stephen Fuller, and their families are entitled to have the true facts replace the fiction in the Dáil records. The people of Kerry want justice to be done in a spirit of reconciliation, forgiveness, and closure. On the centenary of the Ballyseedy massacre, it’s time to put the record straight.
Billy Ryle
Tralee, Co Kerry
Killing of Erskine Childers was illegal
David McManus, the Fine Gael group leader of South Dublin County Council, while criticising Mick Clifford for saying in a recent article that the execution of Erskine Childers was an “illegal act” (Letters, Irish Examiner, March 4) was trying to defend the indefensible.
And I wonder if he had the full backing of all his group in Fine Gael?
It is a well-known fact that the Free State government had very little to pin on Erskine Childers at the time, but they wanted him killed.
They just happened to find him with a pistol at the home of his cousin,
Robert Barton, in Wicklow, and that was used to justify his murder. The said pistol had been given to him as a present by Michael Collins.
It is also worth noting that the National Army’s head of intelligence wrote a letter on November 10 to the adjutant general.
It stated: “I am instructed to enclose your file and papers in connection with Erskine Childers and to state that neither the file nor the papers supply anything which would be the basis of a charge.”
Two weeks later, Erskine Childers was shot by a firing squad of only ex-British soldiers.
Liam Burke
Dunmore, Co Kilkenny
A hurling world cup
A great opportunity exists to promote hurling worldwide and market the GAA and An Post worldwide with a new hurling world cup, sponsored by An Post Bank, organised by the GAA, and played between many countries all over the world, just as soccer and rugby have their world cups. Millions of people worldwide will then be able to see the world’s most magnificent game, hurling. The new hurling world cup will embrace the GAA amateur ethos and customs in every way. The event will promote Irish culture, jobs, and businesses. We can make it happen through personal contact, letter-writing, emails, and Zoom calls. And by making proposals at club or board meetings.
Brendan Donoghue
Cross Douglas Rd, Cork
Hurling is not a ball-throwing sport
My compliments to Enda McEvoy on his superbly written article on hurling, in the Irish Examiner (‘Tactics and handpasses – the evoluton of hurling’, Feb 25). Enda accurately sums it up when inferring that the handpass in hurling (ball throwing included) is now the foundation stone of an ethos. Alas!
Indeed, Enda alluded to my proposed solution to this worsening problem which is to introduce a new playing rule, which will state that it is a foul “to either handpass the ball or palm the ball directly from the same hand that is holding the ball”. The introduction of this new playing rule will bring an instant fix to hurling’s ever-worsening ball-throwing problem.
Hurling is meant to be a ball-striking sport, not a ball-throwing sport and the elimination of ball throwing from our national game should be the GAA’s priority. Otherwise the hurley is in danger of becoming redundant. Yours in hurling,
Conor O’Donovan
Nenagh, Co Tipperary
(Tipperary All ireland 1989 & 1991)
