Hospital waiting lists have risen by 20 percent over the past two years. Almost 35,000 public patients are now in the queue for operations. Some of the largest increases in the backlog are in the major Dublin hospitals.
Several of Dublin's major hospitals began summer closures of hospital wards this week and others are unable to open wards because of staff shortages.
The Irish Nurses Organisation said that both staff and patients are losing out at a time of high demand for hospital beds in the capital.
Fine Gael says that their analysis of waiting lists shows that over 40 % of people on the national waiting lists are waiting for a hospital bed in one of the major Dublin hospitals.
Every year, the country's major hospitals close hospital wards while consultants take holidays and the demand for beds is reduced. This year, however, the closures in Dublin come against a background of high demand for beds and growing waiting lists for elective surgery.
Two days ago, one of the city's largest hospitals, St James's, closed 25 beds in two wards in the hospital, while a similar number of patients required beds from the Accident and Emergency dept. According to the Irish Nurses Organisation, the patients were nursed on trolleys in the corridors.
In St Columcille's hospital in Loughlinstown, a 15-bed ward remains closed following refurbishment because of a lack of nursing staff.
