Minister for Health Simon Harris has said the Government is committed to investing in and developing the health service.
He said this will be evident in next week’s Budget.
Mr Harris was addressing the annual conference of the Irish Hospital Consultants Association in Limerick.
He said the extra funding was coming after "a lost decade".
New figures show almost 679,000 patients are waiting for hospital care.
Mr Harris said accurate waiting lists were needed and that 425,000 patients did not attend outpatient appointments when called.
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He said a bed capacity report will be ready in a few weeks and will be published by the end of the year.
Dr Tom Ryan, President of the IHCA, said the State was condemning acutely ill patients to experience unacceptable delays, resulting in avoidable deaths in acute hospitals.
He said the real problem is a lack of capacity.
Dr Ryan said the equivalent capacity of six Croke Parks are currently on hospital outpatient waiting lists.
He said more beds were needed given the number of planned surgical operations had reduced by 50% in the past four years.
Mr Harris said the National Treatment Purchase Fund will get €55m next year to help reduce waiting lists.
This year it received €20m.
