Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I raise with the Tánaiste the extension of the free GP care scheme to children aged under eight. This has been on the cards for some time. In fact, the timeline for delivery was the end of last year. That time has come and gone and children aged six and seven still do not have their free GP cards. The parents of these 80,000 children want to see the scheme introduced before their kids age out of it. My understanding is that talks on the contract are still ongoing. Will the Tánaiste provide us with an update on it because people are struggling now and this scheme cannot come quickly enough for the cohort of parents with children aged six and seven? Nor can the training and recruitment of GPs come quickly enough, as the shortage of same is impacting and we can feel the effect in my community. When will the scheme for six- and seven-year olds come into play?

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