The National Association of General Practitioners (NAGP) has warned many rural GP practices are dying out because of a series of government funding cuts.

The Irish Independent has reported that there were 32 GP practices in Ireland where positions remained unfilled at the end of 2014, and some have now shut completely.

Dr Conor McGee, president of the NAGP and practitioner in Scariff, Co Clare, spoke to Newstalk Lunchtime today.

"Practices are closing, they are not viable. The funding government has put available to run surgeries and look after patients isn't enough. The cutbacks have now meant that in certain parts of the country, predominantly rural areas, there are practices with no serving doctor there," Dr McGee explained.

Dr McGee says, "increasingly the ability to make a living from it, to do the job you want to do, to look after people... the ability to do that is being massively compromised by savage cuts imposed by government when they needed to claw back money.

In terms of the areas that are affected, "at the moment it's the western seaboard, it's rural areas, and it's urban deprived, which it seems to me are areas government don't really mind if those people struggle," Dr McGee said.

Dr McGee started by commenting on how many vacancies for GPs there are at the moment: