Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Universal health care is a group term that can mean many different things. It can be a fully tax-funded system like the British National Health Service, a system with a mix of co-payments, a system that involves compulsory health insurance using a social insurance model or a competitive compulsory private insurance model. There are many different ways to achieve universal health care. Looking across different jurisdictions and countries, one cannot say definitively that one model is best. I do not buy that. There are pluses and minuses to all models. There is the option of a mix of models and the right model has to fit the right country because countries are different culturally and we must bear that in mind.

The major delay in providing GP access without fees to the under sixes has been the time it has taken to come to an agreement with family doctors, but it was worth taking the time to do that. Once that agreement is concluded and assuming GPs take up the contract in sufficient numbers, and they do not have to, we will then immediately enter negotiations on extending such access to other cohorts. Initially it will be other schoolchildren and I am particularly keen to include adults with chronic diseases as well.

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