Sir, – Sinéad O’Sullivan’s article reflects understandable public concern about doctors leaving Ireland after training (“People in Ireland want to know where our money goes. The answer is depressing,” May 13th). However, the National Doctors Training and Planning (NDTP) medical recruitment and retention report 2025, published earlier this month, shows that while many young doctors choose to work in Australia for one to two years, the vast majority return to train and work in Ireland. The report findings were that 60 per cent of interns do leave Ireland to work in Australia at the end of the intern year, but more than three quarters of those (77 per cent) return to speciality training in Ireland. This number increases to 87 per cent when looking specifically at Irish-trained doctors of Irish nationality. Furthermore, 80 per cent of doctors completing specialist training in Ireland between 2017 and 2021 were working in Ireland as consultants by 2025. For general practice, retention within the Irish healthcare system is more than 90 per cent. . Surveys shows that 90 per cent of doctors working in Ireland wish to remain working in Ireland long-term. It is common for doctors to travel abroad for experience and subspecialty training across all advanced healthcare systems. Irish doctors have always travelled to gain experience overseas, just as Irish healthcare relies on high quality internationally trained doctors. There are indeed challenges affecting retention, including housing costs, delayed access to permanent posts and the working environment. However, the evidence suggests that sustained investment in consultant posts, training pathways and working conditions improves retention.The challenge is therefore not preventing doctors from leaving Ireland, but ensuring that Ireland remains an attractive place for them to return to and build long-term careers. – Yours, etc,PROF ANTHONY O’REGAN,Medical Director NDTP,Heuston South Quarter,Dublin 8.