Mortality rates among the poorest in Ireland are up to 200% higher than amongst the richest, according to research carried out by the Institute for Public Health.
Dr Jane Wilde, the director of the institute, said this was clear for nearly all the main causes of deaths including cancers, respiratory diseases and accidents.
She called for political leadership and policy coherence in tackling the wide gap in health between the rich and the poor.
Dr Wilde told a cross-border conference in Carlingford, Co Louth, that there was a constant preoccupation with economic success.
'Debates on health are dominated by waiting lists and when attention turns to public health, it becomes divisive with arguments about who is responsible,' she told delegates.
