Hospital consultants have welcomed the plans to disband the health board structure and said they hoped it would take the politics out of decision-making.
Ten health boards for a population of less than four million people just was not an efficient use of resources, said Dr Stephen Cusack, consultant in emergency medicine at Cork University Hospital."I think this news is a good thing, a progressive step," he said.
He favoured reducing political representation and increasing the representation of medical staff and service users.
Consultant neurologist Dr Orla Hardiman said the Minister for Health was "extremely courageous" to take on health board reform. "It really is wonderful news and we were just wondering how quickly it would be enforced. I really hope he will follow through on it."
She said her sector had been badly served by the health board model.
"Neurological services need to be planned nationally, and not by health board region."
Dr Aidan Gleeson, consultant in emergency medicine at Beaumont Hospital, said many health boards and Department of Health officials had a "profound mistrust" of the medical profession, so if the plan brought the medical profession closer to the decision-making it would be a good thing.
"Often, decisions are based on a political agenda rather than on medical need," he said. "This country is all about regional politics."
Dr John Armstrong, a consultant radiation oncologist said the large number of health boards made it very difficult to decide a collective vision for healthcare.
A reduction in the number of health boards would "reduce the number of impediments in decision-making". He said a small number of large centres of excellence would provide better healthcare than a large number of rundown hospitals.
