Parents and guardians of children aged six and seven can register for free GP visit cards from today as the scheme extends to around 78,000 children.
It allows the children to see their doctor free of charge.
Current GP visit cards for those aged five and under will be automatically extended until a child turns eight.
Applications can be made at hse.ie/gpvisitcards and will take between seven and ten days to process.
For those who cannot register online, the HSE offers options to register by post.
As well as free visits to the doctor, the card covers assessments at ages two and five, GP home visits and out-of-hours urgent GP care.
The extension of GP visit cards to children aged under eight has been described as "a significant milestone in healthcare" by HSE Chief Clinical Officer Dr Colm Henry.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, he acknowledged the pressures GPs have been under in recent years and the huge contribution they made to protecting the population during Covid-19.
"This is a significant milestone in healthcare that people don't feel is an impediment to accessing primary care," Dr Henry said.
"There have been additional supports put into general practice, including extension of teams, staff and importantly enhanced training.
"We're going from 250 trainees a year to 350 by next year, and ultimately 450 trainees per year.
"The number of trainees in general practice will have increased from 900 to 1,300 by 2026."
The extension of the scheme has also been welcomed by Dr Diarmuid Quinlan, Medical Director of the Irish College of General Practitioners.
However, he said that it would add to the workload of staff in general practice.
Speaking on the same programme, the Cork-based GP said: "We know that about 78,000 children will benefit from this and they will no longer have to pay to see their GP. They will still have to pay their medicine cost.
"We know that GPs are very busy, that there are increasingly people have difficulty getting access to their GP.
"We know that the increasing the access to general practice for 78,000 children will increase the workload of general practice, as it did with the under sixes when the number of consultations went up 30%.
"However, we are working hard with the HSE and the Department of Health and Minister Donnelly to expand the number of GPs.
"We have rapidly and substantially increased the number of GPs in training and we also have a very innovative programme bringing in experienced GPs from overseas who have decided to make Ireland their home, and we are supporting them to integrate into the working community in Ireland."
However, Dr Quinlan said "this is not an overnight solution" and it will take several years to expand GP capacity.
He said that if a GP is not available and out-of-hours services are not feasible, then people should go to the emergency department.
The extension of the GP visit card to all children under eight regardless of a family's ability to pay is "a very pragmatic use of resources" and is "equitable", Dr Quinlan said.
He said: "It also helped prevent a perception that people [with] medical cards are poorer.
"So, we would certainly support this age-based extension to children aged six and seven as a pragmatic, swift response to the Government's promise, and Minister Donnelly's promised to deliver this."
The number of GP training places is rapidly and substantially increasing, Dr Quinlan said, adding that the number will more than double it by the end of this year.
He said Ireland needs twice as many GP nurses and greater physical infrastructure to house the increase in staff.
Core deficiency
Speaking with RTÉ's News at One, Dr Tadhg Crowley, Chairman of the Irish Medical Organisation's GP committee, said it was a "good news health story" for the 78,000 children who will benefit from the scheme.
However, he cautioned that wait times for individuals visiting a GP will increase and asked the public to be patient with practitioners.
Dr Crowley said support mechanisms can be put in place to help with increased staffing but warned that there is currently a core deficiency in the number of GPs in the country.
"Just because we extend the number of cards along the road, we have to be careful that at all times we are extending the number of GPs that we have available," he said.
"There have been some very welcome announcements in terms of increasing the training, increasing the number of GPs that will be available on various schemes, but unfortunately, it's just not enough," he added.
Over 20% of GPs are over 60 years old and 14% of that cohort are over the age of 65, he said.
"We need to start workforce planning for various areas of the country where we are going to have an acute deficiency of GPs in the next few years," Dr Crowley said.
He stressed that retention in the sector also needs to be examined as there is a "world shortage" of doctors.
"We have got to make sure that we have the ability not only to train more GPs but also that we retain them within the systems," he said.
