A Tramore GP has hit out at the government for what he sees as a "cynical" manoeuvre.
A review of General Practice in Ireland is being carried out to identify challenges facing the sector.
For rural areas struggling to retain a doctor, HSE-employed GPs will be considered.
However, Dr Austin Byrne believes this is being done moreso to keep certain political constituencies happy.
"So, [for example] we have 30% of GPs in Mayo who are going to retire," he told Damien Tiernan on Déise Today, "Mayo is a really important political constituency. We can't have this happen so what will we do?
"Let's go and hire some GPs directly and rather than having them working directly as sole-traders, taking on all of the associated costs and liabilities - and the liabilities of running a SME is considerable - we will employ them.
"And let's fill the politically important constituencies on the western seaboard - particularly Mayo and Kerry and West Cork as well - and make sure that we don't have political fallout.
"It's cynical and that's all that it is."
According to Dr Byrne, recently or newly-qualified GPs are trying to work what would previously have been considered only 70% of the working week.
However, this 70% amounts to 40 hours, because a full week is considered to be 65 hours for doctors.
"Most of the younger GPs coming through, now have the good sense to say they don't want to do 65 hours a week," he told the programme.
He estimates that when all things are taken into consideration, there are approximately 150 GPs qualifying a year but there are at least 276 new doctors a year needed to cope with the shortage.
"It's a politically motivated approach to short-term plugging of a significant gap," he continued, "that was created by political negligence.
"I've said it twice before on the programme that the day we allow politicians to make healthcare decisions based on political need and not on rational, costed, fair and equitable healthcare grounds, we have a problem.
"And we have a significant problem in Ireland."
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