Mortality rates amongst the poorest people in Ireland are up to 200 per cent higher than amongst the richest according to research carried out by the Institute for Public Health (IPH).
The IPH said the mortality rates were the same for nearly all the main causes of death, including cancers, respiratory diseases and accidents and poisoning.
Director of the IPH Dr Jane Wilde called for political leadership and coherent policies to tackle the gap.
She said that politicians and opinion formers should be convinced of the central idea of public health and the need for collective responsibility and action.
Dr Wilde said: "There is a constant preoccupation with economic success. Debates on 'health' are dominated by waiting lists and when attention does turn to public health it is often divisive, concentrating on arguments about individual and collective responsibility.
The IPH research also found that Irish mortality rates (North and South) from chronic diseases are higher than in most western European countries.
"During the period 1989-1998, breast, colorectal, lung, lymphoma and oesophageal cancer incidence and mortality rates for women in Ireland were significantly higher than rates for women in the EU," said Dr Wilde.
"Amongst men in Ireland, colorectal, oesophageal, and prostate cancer incidence and mortality rates were significantly higher than for men in the EU," she added.