General Practitioner Services
Seanad Éireann — 2026-04-14
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Kieran O'Donnell (FG), Limerick City

I thank Senator Boyhan for raising this important issue. I am taking this matter on behalf of the Minister for Health, Deputy Jennifer Carroll MacNeill. The Government recognises the need for more GPs not only to meet current demand, but to meet the future needs of our growing and ageing population. A strong and sustainable general practice is essential to our health service. As Senator Boyhan has said, GPs are a vital component of our health system. They do great work.
For that reason, the programme for Government commits to increasing the number of practising GPs through a combination of increased training places and international recruitment, while several steps have already been taken in recent years to increase GP capacity.
To make general practice in Ireland more attractive as a career and to increase the level of services provided to patients, investment in general practice has increased by over €340 million under the 2019 and 2020 GP General Medical Services, GMS, agreements. The 2019 GP agreement provided for an enormous 50% increase in capitation payment rates for GPs and a 10% increase to rural practice supports. Improvements to GP maternity and paternity leave arrangements were also made and a support for practices in urban areas of deprivation was introduced. The 2023 GP agreement introduced a new grant for additional practice staff capacity and a support for staff maternity leave taking. It also provides a locum sourcing support for rural GMS practices; the Senator alluded to rural practices.
The annual intake of doctors into the GP training programme has been increased by approximately 80% from 2019 to 2024, with 215 new entrant training places made available in 2024 and again in 2025. The number of new entrant training places has been increased by a further 50, which brings it to 400 places this year in 2026. As a result, the number of GPs graduating has increased and will increase more in the next few years. Future increases in the number of GP training places will be kept under consideration. In addition, the recruitment of GPs from abroad commenced under the international medical graduate, IMG, rural GP programme in 2023. Under this programme, GPs work in general practice while undergoing two years of self-directed learning after which they can register under the medical council specialist register and take up a GMS contract themselves.
As of 2019, there were 111 doctors in practice under the IMG programme. Fifty-eight more have completed a two-year programme. The placement of IMG GPs in practices is targeted at rural areas and difficult to fill posts in various locations around the country. In addition to the ongoing work to increase GP numbers, a strategic review of general practice is currently under way. I anticipate the Senator will enquire when it be completed. The Department advised me that it will be completed this year. The review is led by the Department of Health with support from the HSE and input from stakeholders. It examines a range of important issues affecting general practice around capacity, training, out-of-hours services, ehealth and the need for further and revised supports for general practice. The potential for HSE-employed GPs as well as other possible measures to bring more GPs to underserved areas is also being examined. Continuing to train, increase GP numbers and recruit more GPs from abroad will see our GP workforce grow, while the work of the strategic review will provide the basis for the future sustainability of general practice.

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Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted.

Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-04-14/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:48+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-14