Sherib - I completely agree with you.
Crumdub12 states that the doctor in question is a locum. As far as I am aware, there are only locum agencies for GPs not for hospital docs- an agreement is signed and potential placements are offered to the doctor in question. It is personal choice as to which placement they take.
Individual hospitals may advertise for hospital locums to cover sick leave, maternity leave etc. The employiing hospital is then responsible for issuing a contract and negotiating terms and conditions with the employee. Doesn't sound like this is the case, as the person(s) in question would have known at the outset that they would end up in Waterford.
In addition, if there are vacancies on regional or national specialist training schemes, such that hospitals are short staffed in the short to medium term, locum positions may be advertised to fill the gaps. Although such schemes may be predominantly based in Dublin, they are "regional" rather than city schemes and can on occasion include posts to other regional hospitals. In such instances, although the locum may apply for a post through the training scheme, each hospital to which the locum is sent is responsible for issuing a contract for the duration of that particular placement. This rule also applies to docs who are officially on the training scheme. It is unusual for docs to know more than a month or two in advance where they are going to be sent to next, and can regularly get shipped around the country.
Although I am sympathetic to the plight of the individuals to whom crumdub12 refers, that is the reality of Medicine in Ireland and it is the same for every non-consultant doctor in the country. The population density in Britain is such that docs don't need to commute so far for their placements simply because there are more hospitals in each region, rather than there being massive differences between the two systems.