The Progressive Democrats party today defended its proposal to use the private healthcare system as a ‘safety valve’ to combat the public patient waiting lists.
The party's policy document proposes the Government pay for private healthcare for public patients if they are on a waiting list for more than three months.
A copy of the document has been presented to the Minister for Health as part of the run up to formulation of a new Government Health strategy.
It estimates the cost of the system at around £100 million per year.
"I believe this is the only way to tackle this issue and should be debated. We have done considerable research and talked to a lot of players," the Tánaiste Ms Harney said.
She defended the party against claims it was turning its back on the public health service.
"We have had a two-tier system for too long and our proposal will remedy that situation. Over the last few years £133 million has been spend on tackling the waiting lists - something which has only cleared 13,000 people so far. This initiative is aimed at the patients, not the providers, and its success will depend on the speed of its implementation," she said.
Mr Tim O'Malley, the PDs health spokesman, said he believed the private sector was being underused, with many private hospitals not performing operations over the weekends.
He said he expected the private health providers to increase its capacity if Government money was on offer. The money would be paid at existing VHI and BUPA rates for each public patient.
The document proposes the Government should pay for treatment abroad for public patients if treatment is unavailable in Ireland.
"There are still 26,000 people waiting and we believe that this is a new, innovative and cost-effective way that could give most of those people a definitive date for treatment by Easter of next year," said the Tánaiste.