Dr. Bridget Johnston:

As Dr. Burke has alluded to, it is about a crisis of confidence. If the public does not have confidence, of course they will continue to look for the safety net they perceive to exist through private healthcare.

On people wanting affordable care, we found before Covid and the cost-of-living crisis that almost 20% of Irish households could not afford what they spent on healthcare. The expenditure either impoverished them further or pushed them into poverty. They were spending more than 40% of their monthly budget on healthcare. I am referring to the direct charges paid at the time of access and the cost of private health insurance premiums. It has been a slow-bubbling crisis for a long time for the majority or a significant minority of Irish households. When the data are eventually available again – the household budget survey is taking place only now – we expect the trend will have only deepened with time.