Health literacy (HL) research has mainly focused on the skills and abilities of individuals in the healthcare setting. For the past 20 years, most research has been conducted in North America. However, HL is now gaining political support at European Union level. This presentation is concerned with attitudes that nationally representative survey respondents in Ireland have towards improving their health by seeking a more health literate healthcare system. Two waves of the Survey of Lifestyle, Attitudes and Nutrition (SLAN 1998 & 2002) were used in this analysis. The primary focus of this study was to look across the socioeconomic gradient and see whether Irish health policymakers should invest in HL as a health inequalities or a public health issue. A secondary objective was to look at preventive healthcare utilization (General health check-up, blood pressure check-up, blood cholesterol check-up) using the HL variable as the main independent variable stratified by gender and medical card eligibility. The constructive dependent variable (termed 'effective demand for a health literate health care system') showed that 46% of respondents desired at least one attribute on a health literate health care system. Various multivariate logistic regression models used social class grouping, medical card eligibility, level of education and employment status as the main socioeconomic gradient variables. No discernible trend emerged among the socioeconomic variables. This suggests that HL should be viewed as a public health issue with a policy focus at a system level. Consistently, females (OR 1.15; 95%:1.04 -1.28) were more likely than males to seek a health literate health care system. However, males without a medical card with an effective demand for health literate healthcare system were more likely to get a general check-up (OR 1.23; 95%:1.03 -1.47). The investment in making the system more user-friendly would benefit all in society and not those stigmatized as having low literacy.