Dr. Diarmuid Quinlan:

I was working in SouthDoc in Cork last Saturday and it is a really busy service. It is staffed primarily by the GPs of Cork and Kerry during the daylight hours and the overnight service is staffed by employee doctors who undertake the role Deputy Shortall suggests. It comes back to the shortage of GPs. The GPs have a choice whether to work in daytime general practice or to do largely out-of-hours, and out-of-hours work brings its own challenges for doctors.