Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank Dr. Turner for his presentation. In the course of his presentation Dr. Turner states that he does not believe an entirely single-tier system for all health services is achievable but I would be interested to learn if he thinks we should aspire to a single-tier system, if nothing else. I understand that we are the only country, bar the US, that does not have a single-tier system. Will he explain his views on whether it would be completely futile to have a single-tier system or whether we should aspire to an universal health system?

In the course of his presentation, he referred to the incentivisation to treat private patients instead of public patients. With regard to the dismantling of that incentive, were we to go down the road of eliminating the subsidy that is available to those who purchase private health insurance, that could generate in the region of €350 million to €355 million, which is a fairly conservative estimate. What is his view of the impact of the possible elimination of that subsidy on the perverse incentive to treat private patients and the possibility of reinvestment of that money in the health service?