DYING BREED; Irishmen have EU's shortest life expectancy Poor kids twice as likely to die than richer children.

Byline: By LOUISE HORGAN

MEN die younger in Ireland than any other country in the EU, it has been revealed.

The average life expectancy of Irishmen is just 65, a survey says.

Research across Ireland by the Public Health Alliance also shows poor children are twice as likely to die before the age of 15 as those from affluent homes.

The organisation's co-chairman Dr Thomas Quigley said poor health experiences in childhood, even before birth, were leaving lifelong scars.

He added: "Given the evidence of the impact of inequality on the health of the population it is clear any attempt to improve health and address inequalities in health, must be rooted in social justice.

"That needs to result in a fairer distribution of wealth, as well as provision of appropriate, accessible services provided on the basis of need and not ability to pay."

Dr Quigley said the alliance was calling for an end to child poverty and the development of an equitable tax and welfare system to reduce the income gap.

Another move being pushed by the group is the provision of a universal health service, providing care on the basis of need rather than ability to pay.

The study, compiled from a range of reports, said: "The health system is fundamentally unequal, allowing those who can afford private care to get more rapid access to a better service."

Chief executive of the Children's Rights Alliance Jillian van Turnhout warned of the urgent need for health care to be provided to children living in low-income families.

She said: "One in nine children in Ireland are living in poverty, the Government had committed to ending child poverty by 2007.

"We are now in 2007 and our figures have increased for child poverty, so we would be greatly concerned not enough action is being taken to eradicate child poverty in Ireland.

"We want full free health care for all children in low-income families."

THROUGHOUT Ireland the proportion of untreated dental problems was higher among children from disadvantaged areas.

The rates of mental illness and suicide were detected as significantly higher in economically deprived areas.

Those in lower socio-economic groups also have a higher incidence of cancer and poorer survival rates compared with more affluent sectors.

Men from the lowest socio-economic groups in Northern Ireland live an average of six years less than those from wealthier backgrounds.

Death rates among people in the lowest occupational class was up to 200 per cent higher than the rate for the highest.

Among those in the lower working classes, the death rate for circulatory diseases was 120 per cent higher, for cancers 100 per cent higher, for respiratory disease 200 per cent higher and for injury or poisonrelated deaths, more than 150 per cent higher.

In Northern Ireland, the death rate from murder or assault was 225 per cent higher in lower socio-economic groups than the highest. Women in the Republic have almost twice the rate of death from heart disease as the European Union average.

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CAPTION(S):

SHOCK: Irishmen don't live as long; GRIM: Poor children are at huge risk