Minister for Health Dr James Reilly has said that there are 250 junior hospital doctor vacancies which the Government was doing "everything" it could to address.
However, even if there was no staffing crisis, "the option of leaving things as they were…is not an option because it's not safe", he said.
Dr Reilly, who was speaking to reporters at a health promotion conference today at NUI Galway, said that hospitals including Roscommon and Portlaoise were not going to close.
However, he said he wished to correct incorrect media reports that there were 400 non-consultant hospital doctor (NCHD) vacancies looming on July 11th. The correct figure is 250, he said.
"We are faced, for sure, with a financial crisis - that's a legacy from the last government - we're also faced with an NCHD shortage and we've done everything we can in order to address that," he said.
"I am awaiting final figures from the HSE in relation to what that shortage in relation to NCHDs will be," he added. However he said he had been informed that there had been "a great expression of interest" in filling the vacancies from abroad.
"But I don't want to say anything definitive until I know people are on aeroplanes and have got visas," he said. "I have very little doubt that the people that have been interviewed - and there were nearly 4,000 of those, the 400 who have expressed an interest to come are of the calibre that we require."
They had all been assessed and the Medical Council would conduct a full assessment with colleges on suitability, and they would be placed in "supervising settings, because we have to be fair to them", he said.
Special legislation would go through the Dáil next week to facilitate temporary registration of these doctors for two years, which would guarantee a manpower situation for this period, Dr Reilly added.
"We'll have two years to try and correct what I see is an utter mismatch between numbers, lack of career path for doctors and attitude to some junior hospital doctors from management and from some senior colleagues that has to be addressed," he said.
"I think if we do that, create clear career paths, create better working conditions-and this does not cost money-we will end up with more of our own people staying here, which has to be advantageous to us. The other thing I'm looking at in conjunction with the colleges is the fact that the Medical Council and the forum of colleges will allow now for a conversation to address that more substantive issue.”
"I believe we'll get some resolution by the end of this year and be able to put a real plan in place that will underpin our manpower requirements well into the future," he said.
Dr Reilly said that there were "contingency plans" for any shortfall after July 11th, depending on the number of junior doctors available after this date, with "different plans for different hospitals".
He said he did not wish to comment directly on the Health Service Executive’s (HSE) handling of the situation.
His officials were trying to put supervision in for about 1,000 posts which were not official training positions, to provide for some sort of training and to provide for patient safety, he added.
"I want to reassure people any of the doctors coming here will not be of an inferior quality - the likelihood is actually that they will be of a superior quality," he added.