RTÉ News has been inside some of the worst-affected hospital emergency departments in the country.
The exclusive footage, broadcast this evening, reveals what patients, their relatives and loved ones are facing as they wait for admission to a bed.
During last Friday and Saturday, RTÉ News visited Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda, Beaumont Hospital in Dublin, Galway University Hospital and Cork University Hospital.
When RTÉ visited the hospital, 42 patients were waiting on trolleys.
Corridors were packed with trolleys, with male and female patients lined up together.
Patients, relatives and staff were trying to cope in the cramped space available.
Doctors say these conditions can pose a risk for the transmission of infections.
When RTÉ News visited Beaumont Hospital, there were rows of trolleys lined up in the main emergency department area.
Relatives were sitting on chairs beside loved ones, with space at a premium.
An elderly patient was on a chair, hooked up to a drip. It was not private and not very dignified.
Another patient was sitting on a chair, keeping warm with a blanket.
At Galway University Hospital, the conditions were a bit better, with 13 patients waiting.
A main corridor was full with patients on trolleys, with relatives standing beside loved ones.
An elderly woman had been placed beside open doors, where busy staff came and went.
It would have been difficult to rest in the noisy, packed environment.
Staff were trying their best to cope in the cramped conditions.
During the visit to Cork University Hospital, it was relatively quiet, with just five patients waiting.
However, the corridor was busy, with the familiar scene of trolleys and chairs.
There was little privacy for medical consultations and doctors and nurses were trying to cope as best they could.
The scenes revealed by RTÉ News today come nearly a decade after the emergency department overcrowding problem was declared a national emergency by former minister for health Mary Harney.
