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

As the Deputy will know, we have extended free GP care without fees to everyone under six, everyone over 70 and people in receipt of carer's allowance as well as people who qualify under the means test. The next step is six- and seven-year-olds and people who earn less than the median income. That is a very large number of people, hundreds of thousands. Negotiations are under way with the Irish Medical Organisation, which has raised legitimate concerns with regard to the capacity of GPs to deal with increased attendances, which will arise, and adequate compensation for the loss of private income. We need to get this right. We certainly still intend to get it done this year.

See this speech in context