The HSE hopes to roll out free GP care for the under sixes by the second quarter of next year.
The agency is in talks with Doctors over the issue, and has set aside 35 million euro to fund the initiate which has been delayed.
Announcing spending plans for the next 12 months today, the executive says it will need exceptional focus to break even next year, even though it got an extra 625 million euro in funding for the health budget.
Separately today, overcrowding at University Hospital Limerick has eased somewhat this week.
21 people are on trolleys there today, including 17 in the hospital's Emergency Department.
That figure was as high as 45 this week, prompting management to take a number of steps including the placement of 13 additional beds into Ennis General, a move which prompted nurses to call a ballot for industrial action in the New Year.
There are two patients being accomodated in overflow areas of the county hospital today.
