The device uses a skin sensor, placed on the back of the upper arm and an electronic reader, to allow people monitor their diabetes, eliminating the need for traditional finger pricking and using test strips.
The device, available in Ireland from today, provides a visual snapshot of glucose levels and trends for up to 14 days.
Around 225,000 people have diabetes in Ireland and around 16,000 of these have Type 1 diabetes and are insulin dependent.
The Freestyle Libre Flash Glucose Monitoring System is made by Abbott.
The sensor on the skin, about the size of a €2 coin, stays on the arm for two weeks and must then be replaced.
An electronic reader, smaller than a mobile phone, is held over the sensor for a reading at any time.
Professor O'Shea, who is consultant endocrinologist and physician at St Vincent's University Hospital, said the device would make monitoring of blood-sugar levels much easier and people could do it more frequently.
He said the immediate groups to whom it should be made available to first are all children with Type 1 diabetes, people with Type 1 diabetes who are on multiple insulin injections each day and pregnant women who have gestational diabetes.
The starter pack cost of two sensors and a reader is €169.90.
Thereafter each sensor costs €59.90 and a reader is €59.90.
Currently it is available for private patients only.
The device would need to undergo a health technology assessment first before the HSE would decide whether to cover it in the public health service.
The device can be used by adults and children aged four years and older, with the children supervised.
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