The health minister says an overcrowding crisis in the emergency ward at Beaumont Hospital will ease in the coming days.
But Leo Varadkar has warned that there is no quick fix to the overcrowding at many of the country's A&E wards.
The hospital has designated itself as "off-call" since Friday as it struggles to cope with chronic overcrowding.
As of last Friday, when 399 people nationwide were on trolleys or housed in wards that weren't designed to cater for them, 49 were in Beaumont alone.
The minister says extra home care packages and nursing home places are being put in place, to help move patients who are currently occupying hospital beds which are needed by others.
Meanwhile the nurses' trade union says the overcrowding should be considered a national emergency.
Our political correspondent Gavan Reilly filed this report for the National Lunchtime News:
