Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

As the Minister is aware, those of us who are opposed to this way of delivering health care have made the point that universal health insurance is mandatory private health insurance organised via the State imposing the system. It is similar to the United States or the Netherlands. Things that have to be factored in to the system include profit for the private health insurance companies, billing costs, administration costs, legal costs and advertising costs. Is it the case that the leaked White Paper and the associated comments from the Minister's Department indicate an awareness on the part of the Minister's Department that when we add in all these costs, the proposal will cost us an absolute fortune and that it is a mad project to embark upon? As much as universal health sounds wonderful, when we add in the word "insurance" and we mean private health insurance companies, then the costs blow up out of all proportion.

Those costs will be borne either by the services that are delivered or through extra taxes imposed on ordinary citizens who are already burdened with massive amounts of austerity taxes and cuts.

See this speech in context