The Minister for Health has expressed “frustration” with the length of time GP registration currently takes with the Medical Council.
Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill made the comment in an interview with Mr Bryan Dobson at the HSE Integrated Care conference in Dublin last month (see news feature)
Minister Carroll MacNeill said a “frustration I have at the moment… is the registration process with the Medical Council [for] GPs who want to come and work in Ireland, or who were trained in Ireland and want to” return.
The Minister indicated that she would like this process to be faster and less difficult.
She pointed to the “fantastic job” that the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland is currently doing in making its registration process “very quick, smooth, and easy”.
Asked about the Minister’s comments, the Medical Council said it has made a “significant reduction” recently in the backlog of doctor registrations.
The spokesperson noted that the Council had seen a rise in applications in some areas in recent years.
They told the Medical Independent that the registration process for GPs is the same as for any other doctor wishing to be registered in the general or specialist division of the register.
The length of time it takes to be registered varies and depends on a number of factors.
These include whether an application is complete upon submission or missing documentation; whether the applicant’s medical qualifications are eligible for automatic recognition or require detailed assessment; and whether the application is straightforward or presents additional complexities.
“The Medical Council has been experiencing an increase in the volume of applications via some routes in recent years,” said the spokesperson.
“As doctors registering in the general division do not indicate their area of practice at the time of registration, it is not possible to comment on the length of time it takes a GP to be registered.”
The spokesperson noted that “a recent backlog of applications to return to the register” has been completely cleared.
Once an application is complete, it currently takes “no more than two weeks” for the applicant to be registered.
The International Medical Graduate Rural GP Programme was established by the Irish College of GPs (ICGP) in January 2024.
Applicants are required to pass the MICGP exam and have two years in a GP setting, along with other requirements.
Five applications were received in 2024 and 12 applications were received in 2025, all of which were processed within two weeks of receipt of a complete application, said the spokesperson.
In early July 2025, the Medical Council committed to registering 1,000 additional doctors within a six-week window and “delivering a significant reduction” in backlogs across EU and UK routes to the general and specialist divisions, and the restoration of doctors previously registered in Ireland.
Between 1 July and 5 September, the Council reduced the actual registration process duration to four weeks for EU/UK general and specialist routes and restoration applications. It also completely cleared the backlog of restoration applications.
New restoration applications are currently processed within two weeks, said the spokesperson.
“The Medical Council is sustaining efforts to remove backlogs and reduce process durations. We also continue to prioritise the HSE ‘fast-track’ route to support the filling of critical vacancies, the ICGP rural GP scheme, and restorals. Processing durations for EU and UK applicants are also continuing to improve.”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.