Restrictions may have to be imposed on where doctors can set up in general practice, according to a new book.
These should be accompanied by "significant" incentives to work in rural areas, says the book's author, Dr Eileen Caulfield.
Restrictions would encourage doctors to work in places - such as rural areas - where it is currently difficult even to recruit locums and assistants, writes Dr Caulfield in The Organisation of]the Healthcare Services in Ireland - a General Practitioner's Perspective.
She says Ireland may be moving towards the situation in Germany and the UK where it is difficult to recruit doctors to general practice.
The problem is particularly acute for doctors in areas where there are relatively few patients, largely older, and with limited scope for private practice, she writes.
Dr Caulfield recently retired as a GP in Riverstown, Co Sligo, and is a past president of the Irish College of General Practitioners.