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

I join the Deputy in extending my deepest condolences to the families, friends and school communities of the children who died from strep A. It must be any parent or family's nightmare to have a healthy child one day who gets an illness and is gone a few days later. I cannot imagine what that must be like.

The Government is committed to extending free GP care for children. I never felt children should be means-tested based on their parents' incomes. One of the things the former Minister of State, Kathleen Lynch, and I achieved together in Government was the extension of free GP care to the under-sixes. It has been extended to some other groups since, for example, carers, people with terminal illnesses and children with disabilities, but we have not managed to get beyond under-sixes and I am frustrated about that. I am sorry we did not write it into the law at the time that the age would go up by one year every year. If we had, we would be at 12 years by now. Over the last period, discussions of the consultant contract took precedence. The Minister for Health will now want to move on this issue as soon as possible.

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