Last year was the worst on record for overcrowding in hospital emergency departments, with 75,000 people left waiting on chairs or trolleys, according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation.
A five-year review has found the number of patients on trolleys has grown by over a third in the last five years.
The INMO has called on political parties to outline their proposals to address the crisis.
INMO General Secretary Liam Doran said the situation was too serious to ignore.
'There is very little to be added to the picture confirmed by these stark and shocking figures,' said Mr Doran.
'The recent announcement, that a 'team of experts' had landed in six or seven of the worst affected hospitals, to advise on this problem, eight years after it began, only adds insult to the injury being suffered by patients, every day, as a result of this national disgrace.
'We do not need experts to tell us that we need to open the closed beds, provide nurse-led minor injury clinics and additional resources for primary care services in order to deal with this problem.'
