THE HEALTH Service Executive (HSE) sought financial aid from the Society of St Vincent de Paul because it did not have enough money to pay for patient treatments, it was claimed last night.
Audry Deane, the society's social policy adviser, said a HSE manager recently wrote to the charity asking for help.
Speaking at a public debate in Trinity College Dublin on the state of the health system, Ms Deane said the manger requested "therapeutic intervention for a pre-school child as she could not afford to treat this child due to HSE budget constraints".
Ms Deane cited another case involving a 20-year-old amputee who had "been refused some personal assistant hours due to a lack of funding from the HSE". The student contacted the society so "she could continue to attend lectures and have some semblance of normal life".
Ms Deane added: "The Vincent de Paul constantly receives letters from a variety of sources, principals of schools, organisations working in disadvantaged areas, but also managers in the HSE - not admin staff - and hospital staff begging us to help fund cases they cannot assist due to a lack of funds or unacceptably long waiting lists in the public system."
During the debate in TCD titled, This House believes that the Irish Health System Fails the Disadvantaged, TCD economist Dr Seán Barrett described the "very inefficient" healthcare service here as the "last Joe Stalin monopoly sector in the Irish economy".
He said at least 10 private health insurance companies should operate in Ireland, and also said the medical profession was being enriched because there was so few doctors and consultants allowed into the system annually.
Minister for Health Mary Harney said her department had finite resources, but said while there was a long way to go, effective reform had been under way and "there was no turning back".
HSE manager Frank Mills rejected criticisms that the HSE did not help those who were marginalised, saying a large range of "comprehensive and holistic" services were available.
However, consultant neurologist Dr Orla Hardiman encouraged members of the public "to be angry, be very very angry" about the state of the health service.