This health literacy research report marks the first time literacy has significantly entered the health debate in Ireland. Adult literacy learners have been given a voice. Up to this point in our campaigning work we have had to rely on anecdotal stories about how literacy impacted on people’s health encounters and recount international findings. There is a serious lack of Irish research data on this subject available to policy makers. However the Irish results of the 1997 International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) found that 25% of the population tested could not fully understand the directions on a popular headache packet. This led to the first National Adult Literacy Strategy and a broad recognition that there is a significant minority of Irish adults with literacy problems. The publication of the National Health Promotion Strategy in 2000 which clearly identified low literacy skills as a barrier to good health, illustrates this point: “poor literacy skills ….limits access to health information and health service.” (p.20)

To ensure the strategic effectiveness of the National Health Promotion Strategy 2000-2005 NALA recognised that policy-oriented research was urgently required. We approached the Department of Health and Children in 2000 arguing there was a need for a co-ordinated research programme of study into health and literacy in Ireland. We wanted to establish the precise health issues and needs of low literacy populations and inform strategic policy making.