Record number of doctors working in Ireland as 116 GPs reported in Mayo
A new Medical Council report highlights growing medical workforce, but warns of workload and bureaucracy pressures on doctors
A record number of doctors are now clinically active in Ireland, with new Medical Council figures showing that 116 GPs reported working in Mayo.
The Medical Council’s Medical Workforce Intelligence Report 2025, published on Wednesday, September 2, provides an overview of Ireland’s medical workforce based on information supplied by doctors renewing their registration during 2025.
The report found that 22,257 doctors were clinically active in Ireland in 2025, representing 75.6% of doctors who retained their place on the Medical Council Register.
Nationally, 5,017 doctors self-reported as GPs, an increase of 5.3% on 2024. Of those, 116 were working in Mayo, accounting for 2.3% of the country’s GP workforce.
Growing and more diverse workforce
The figures show that Ireland’s medical workforce continues to grow and diversify. Female doctors accounted for 47.6% of the clinically active workforce in 2025, up from 47.2% in 2024. The mean age of doctors was 43.6 years, while around one in five doctors (20.1%) were aged 55 or older.
However, the report also highlights continuing challenges around workload and the ability of doctors to provide timely and safe care.
More than one-quarter of doctors (27.6%) said they experienced difficulties providing patients with sufficient levels of care at least once a week.
The most commonly reported barriers were workload pressures, administration and bureaucracy, and overcrowding.
GPs reported the greatest strain of any group of doctors, with 34.7% experiencing barriers to providing safe patient care at least weekly.
For GPs, the leading difficulties were bureaucracy and administration, workload and problems accessing specialist opinions. The report also found that 10.2% of GPs worked more than 48 hours per week.
A growing number of international doctors
The report also highlights Ireland’s growing reliance on doctors who qualified overseas.
Some 56.6% of clinically active doctors obtained their basic medical qualification in Ireland, while 13.9% qualified in the EU or UK and 29.5% qualified outside Ireland, the EU or UK.
The proportion of doctors trained outside Ireland, the EU and UK has risen steadily, from 25.7% in 2023 to 27.8% in 2024 and 29.5% in 2025.
Doctors in training were also identified as facing significant pressures, with 35.3% of doctors on the Trainee Specialist Division working more than 48 hours per week.
Welcoming the report, Medical Council President Prof Deirdre Murphy said the figures showed a workforce that was “growing and becoming more diverse”, but warned that workload, administration and overcrowding were getting in the way of the care doctors want to provide.
Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill said the report provides valuable insight into Ireland’s medical workforce and will help inform future planning.
For Mayo, the 116 GPs recorded in the report form part of a growing national medical workforce, while the findings also underline the continuing pressures facing doctors and the need for sustainable workforce planning to ensure patients can access timely and safe care.