The president of the Irish Medical Organisation has called on the Minister for Health to use all avenues available to him to make sure Ireland is prepared for a case of Ebola.
Professor Trevor Duffy said medical staff need to be sure themselves of the pathways open to them as well as the correct ones to use.
He said he believed there is a lot of confusion, anxiety and concern among general practitioners in particular.
Prof Duffy said he thought there had been a lot of effort to create a preparedness plan, but that the message was not getting out to the profession on the ground.
He added the IMO has contacted the Department of Health, the health minister and the HSE to request a meeting.
Earlier Minister for Health Leo Varadkar said health unions should not try to exploit the risk of Ebola here to make points about resources and industrial relations.
Mr Varadkar repeated that while the risk of Ebola coming to Ireland remained very low, the country was prepared.
Meanwhile, the Irish Nurses and Midwives' Organisation stated it could not see where the minister was coming from on this.
The General Secretary of the INMO Liam Doran said they had not made an industrial relations issue of the Ebola risk.
He said it was about the unions having a right to ensure their members work in the safest possible environment.
Mr Doran acknowledged that Ireland is a low-risk country, but asked if the country was prepared fully in every single unit, hospital, and GP surgery in terms of contingency planning, isolation facilities, protective clothing, and staff training.
He added that feedback suggests that some staff had not been informed fully to date.
