The Government may announce the introduction of free GP care for children under five in October's budget.

However, there is still considerable doubt over whether the Government would be able to reach agreement with GPs on its introduction by early in the new year.

Minister of State at the Department of Health Alex White said yesterday he hoped to bring proposals to Government later this year on extending free GP care by age cohort, and this may be done perhaps as early as in the Budget.

Minister White told the Third International Public Health Nursing Conference in Galway that no decisions had yet been made on which specific age groups would be granted free GP care initially.

He said both he and Minister Reilly had indicated their view that young children would be a good group to start with for extending eligibility, but no final decisions had yet been made.

Minister White said funding of €30 million was available in the HSE budget for an initial phase of the provision of free GP services at the point of access

It is speculated that the first group to be granted free GP care would be the under fives, and this could be introduced early next year.

The Government has promised that free GP care for the entire population will be introduced by 2015. However, it was earlier this year forced to abandon a plan to extend free GP care initially on illness grounds, due to legal difficulties.

Minister White said it was hoped that talks with the IMO on a new GP contract would make progress in the coming months so that the contract could provide for an increased emphasis on the management of chronic conditions such as diabetes and heart disease by GPs.

The Government would have to negotiate the extension of free GP care and the expansion of chronic care with  the IMO as part of any contract talks.

However, the issue of whether GPs can negotiate collectively on fee levels is currently the subject of legal action between the Competition Authority and the IMO, which is unlikely to be heard in the High Court until early in the new year.

This may lead to further delays in renegotiating the GP contract, which has been promised for a number of years.

GP groups have already said they cannot take on additional patients with conditions such as diabetes and heart disease, or additional patients under free GP care, unless they are properly resourced to do so.