Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I would like to raise the issue of the long delays in the roll-out of free GP care for children. In 2015, funding was secured for the extension of free GP care to all children under 12 but this was not rolled out. Again in 2020, the then Minister, Deputy Harris, announced free GP care for children aged 12 and under on a phased basis, with six- and seven-year-olds first. In the most recent budget, the current Minister for Health, Deputy Donnelly, confirmed again that funding would be put in place for the extension of free GP care to six- and seven-year-olds.

We are being told that consultations are under way with the IMO on the introduction of this service. While parents and households generally are in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, with costs rising for all sorts of basic services, food, rent and fuel, it is long past time for us to see the roll-out of free GP care, at least with the cohort of children in question. It should be rolled out for all children thereafter. Can the Taoiseach give us the date on which this will actually happen? It is now approaching seven years since funding was first put in place for the extension and there does not seem to be any credible excuse for further delays, particularly when there is a cost-of-living crisis and when Ireland is the only country in western Europe without such free care.

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