The Tánaiste and Minister for Health, Mary Harney, has said she is planning legislation for a licensing system that would allow the closure of hospitals and facilities that did not meet standards.
She said improvements in hospital hygiene had led to a more pleasant, and critically, a safer environment.
Her comments came after a new independent audit of the country's main hospitals indicated that a majority of the 53 hospitals examined now have good standards.
Just two hospitals are rated poor, compared with 26 in the first audit.
19 have been rated as having fair standards, while 32 received a good hygiene rating.
The report for the Health Service Executive identified the South Infirmary in Cork and Monaghan General Hospital as the dirtiest.
The cleanest hospitals were St Luke's, Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children and the Royal Victoria Eye & Ear Hospital in Dublin as well as Mullingar General Hospital.
The unannounced spot checks were conducted from February to April.
The first national audit of hospital hygiene, published last November, had found that almost half of them had poor cleanliness standards.
The dirtiest were St Columcille's and Beaumont Hospital in Dublin, and outside of the capital, Waterford Regional Hospital.
The pressure on hospitals to improve cleanliness follows concern over an increased number of cases of hospital superbugs, including MRSA and Clostridium difficile.
A third audit will be conducted later this year.
