The Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan is calling on the HSE to ‘step up to the plate’ to deal with the overcrowding crisis.

The INMO says there were 602 people were on trolleys this morning, the second-highest number ever recorded.

But consultants say the problem is no different to previous years and are denying that a surge in the flu is to blame.

Minister Flanagan says the situation is unacceptable: “I do think it beholds everybody in the health service, whether they’re GPs at primary care level, whether they’re at hospital level or indeed whether they’re at community care or nursing home level.

“That we have heads knocked together to ensure that we can provide a health service which our people are entitled to.”