Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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863. To ask the Minister for Health when he expects free general practitioner care for children under seven announced as part of Budget 2022 will be implemented; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51156/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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Increasing access to GP care without charges for children is an important healthcare measure that will remove a potentially prohibitive cost barrier to accessing GP care and will help to improve children’s health as they develop.

The Health (General Practitioner Service and Alteration of Criteria for Eligibility) Act 2020 provides, amongst other things, for the phased expansion of GP care without fees to all children aged 12 years and under.  The expansion of GP care is planned on a phased basis to limit the impact the expansion might have on GP capacity; the initial stage of the expansion is the provision of GP care without fees to all children aged between 6 and 8. 

The appropriate date for commencing the expansion remains under consideration in light of COVID-19 and the additional pressures the expansion might place on general practice in that context. This date will be determined following consultation with the IMO.