Irish Bishops look at the health of the nation

A new health document was launched in Dublin today by the Council for Justice and Peace of Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference. The paper entitled “Caring for Health in Ireland” is a response to the health care reform outlined in the current Programme for Government prepared by the Irish government.

“Certainly from a justice point of view there are huge issues in the health sector in Ireland”, says lead author of the document, Professor Tony Fahey who is Head of Social Policy in the School of Applied Social Studies in University College Dublin.

Speaking about the paper, Professor Fahey told Lydia O’Kane Ireland has an inequitable and inefficient health services system.

He says that the plans for reform contained in the Programme for Government attempt to tackle many of the worst features of the system, but he adds that the Council for Justice and Peace is concerned that the Government is paying too little attention to the social factors which affect health and focuses instead on a narrow health services view of health policy. Listen to Lydia O'Kane's interview