The Tánaiste and Minister for Health, Mary Harney, has urged nurses to support plans to make more beds available in wards to ease pressure on Accident & Emergency services.
The minister also told the Irish Nurses Organisation conference in Killarney that she wanted to see diagnostic services available in hospitals seven days a week and throughout the night.
She said there was no law which said hospitals must be stuck with poor bed management or that A&E wards had to be overcrowded.
Ms Harney also said no nurse would lose out from the introduction of the controversial health care assistant grade, and she said she supported the prescribing of certain medicines by nurses and a change in the law to allow for this.
Earlier, the INO said it would intensify its campaign to secure improved conditions in A&E departments.
It passed an emergency motion criticising the Government for what nurses claim is a lack of political will to solve the A&E crisis.
During a heated debate, nurses vowed to increase protests and opposed plans by hospitals to put extra beds on wards, saying this was unsafe.
INO General Secretary Liam Doran said that a national crisis existed which required an emergency response led by the Taoiseach and Tánaiste.
