Tony O' Brien, Director General of the HSE, said the bulk of the 440 extra beds promised will be open by Christmas.
He said today's Emergency Department Task Force meeting focused on enhancing weekend discharges, coordinating hospital and community organisation services and new bed provision.
He said there were some risks regarding staffing, but the extra beds will come on stream throughout November and December.
Mr O' Brien said industrial action by emergency department nurses would not be helpful but there were no plans by the INMO to ballot until after the HSE had an opportunity to work together with nurses during October.
Mr O'Brien took over as chairperson of the Task Force at the start of this month.
He has been visiting hospitals that regularly have high levels of overcrowding.
Emergency department nurses at St Vincent's University Hospital in Dublin voted last week for industrial action and a work-to-rule will begin tomorrow.
Today around 100 members of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation took part in a protest outside the hospital to highlight the problem of overcrowding there.
St Vincent's said it had contingency plans in place to minimise disruption and to ensure patient safety was not compromised.
