The number of doctors working in Ireland is continuing to rise with more than 22,000 now practicing here, according to a new report by the Medical Council.
However, doctors are working in a health care service facing growing demand as Ireland’s population continues to grow.
The Medical Workforce Intelligence report 2025 found a growing, diverse workforce with a growing reliance on internationally trained doctors.
The most common countries of qualification for graduates were Pakistan and Sudan.
The number of female doctors has risen in recent years to just over 47%.
More than a quarter of doctors reported persistent barriers to safe patient care, including pressure on workloads, time spent on bureaucracy and overcrowding.
GPs and doctors in training reported the greatest strain.
Over 4,700 doctors reported working more than 48 hours a week in contravention of the European Working Time Directive.
The report found that retaining doctors who have trained in Ireland and who come to work here is challenging as many are working long hours leading to stress and burnout.
Watch: Doctors face growing demand as the population continues to grow
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Over 1,700 doctors retained their registration with the council but said they were not working in Ireland or abroad.
Professor Deirdre J Murphy President of the Medical Council said: “The report reflects a workforce that is becoming more diverse, and a diverse medical workforce is good news, reflecting the changing demographics of patients and communities across the country.
“The data is equally clear that too many doctors are telling us that the workload, administration and overcrowding are getting in the way of the care they want to provide.”
Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll McNeill said she is working to put an Electronic Medical Records system in place in all hospitals to reduce bureaucracy for doctors.
She said: “All of those pieces of our healthcare system together matter very much and how patient flow works is important to reduce overcrowding. They also highlighted bureaucracy and that is too much for people at the moment in the absence of an electronic health records system.
“I am bringing a memo to Cabinet in the next number of weeks looking for permission for the business case to take further our electronic health records system.”