Dr. Pádraig McGarry:

There are projections for the number of GPs required. Currently, we are training approximately 180 per year. It is expected that should rise to 280 to deal with the requirements. That is in the expectation, however, that if one trains 280, they will be retained within the system. Our problem is that they are not being retained in the system. It is difficult to put a plan in place from a numbers point of view if one does not know how many will stay. The problem is that they are not choosing to enter general practice in Ireland. Instead, they are choosing to do so in other jurisdictions. There is a notional number out there of how many are needed but that does not reflect the situation on the ground.