Dr. Robert Sweeney:

Additionally, the aim of Sláintecare is to get private healthcare out of public hospitals. We certainly endorse that aim. Equally, while the State should not be subsidising private provision, if people want to go ahead and get private healthcare, that is up to them. I do not think, however, it should be the State that subsidises it. Regarding the costs, if we look at what country has the most expensive healthcare system in the world, it is the United States. Much of the expense there is driven by administrative costs, as the Deputy said. In the EU, Ireland has the second highest spending as a percentage of national income after Germany. This is despite the fact that we have a young population.

I take the Deputy's point about some of the issues and inefficiencies generated by the overlap between the public and private system. Another aspect I raise is that the cost of having public services in Ireland is generally more expensive because of, shall we say, mistakes in the planning system going back many years. Basically, it is more expensive to service our population with public services because we have this really spread-out population. In the case of healthcare provision, in particular, there has been an overreliance on hospitals. A couple of different factors, therefore, are in play here. It is not just that we can say the experience we see in the US fully explains the inefficiencies we have in Ireland.