Sir, - I very much welcome the series by Maev-Ann Wren and others about the lack of a proper health service in Ireland. The articles your edition of October 6th drive home the message that our "public" health-care system is a two-tier anachronism, unworthy of the affluent, first-world country which we now imagine ourselves to be.
I am equally saddened, however, that not one of our "mainstream" political parties (even the Labour Party, supposedly Ireland's counterpart to the creators of the British NHS) has seen fit to support the introduction of a comprehensive health-care system on the UK model, free to all at the point of use.
Britain's sustained provision of a free health-care system, without VHI, GP fees or medical cards, should be both a shining example of what can be done, and a constant reproach to us about what we apparently will not even discuss doing here. - Yours, etc.,
Richard Barrett, Leinster Square, Rathmines, Dublin 6.