Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has reportedly rejoined the medical register so he can give healthcare workers fighting coronavirus a dig out.
The Dublin West TD studied medicine at Trinity College Dublin and was a doctor for seven years before entering public life.
He is set to work the phones, assessing potential cases of the deadly disease.
The Irish Times reports that Mr Varadkar rejoined the medical register in March and he is going to work one day a week within the HSE “in an area suited to his qualifications”.
Anyone who may have been exposed to Covid-19 is initially assessed over the phone rather than in person, to curb the spread of the virus, and the paper reports that the Taoiseach will be helping out in this area.
Mr Varadkar was a non-consultant hospital doctor for several years, working at St James's Hospital and at Connolly Hospital, before qualifying as a GP in 2010.
He was removed from the medical register in 2013, by which time he had moved from medicine to politics.
