Hospital waiting list figures for September show a small reduction in the number of patients waiting for inpatient or day-care treatment.
There were 58,883 patients waiting for day case or inpatient treatment, compared with 59,932 patients in July.
It represents a reduction of 1,049 patients, or 2%.
The number of scheduled patients waiting over a year for treatment has fallen by 12% to 936 patients.
The number of patients waiting to be seen by a consultant for a first outpatient appointment has also reduced slightly, by 1,752, to 386,384.
In the case of emergency departments and patients waiting on trolleys for a ward bed, significant improvements were reported at St Vincent's University Hospital and the Mater in Dublin, University Hospital Limerick and Our Lady of Lourdes in Drogheda.
However, the situation deteriorated at Cork University Hospital, Waterford Regional and at Tallaght and Beaumont Hospitals in Dublin.
Nationally, 68% of patients attending an emergency department are now discharged or admitted within six hours.
The national target is that 95% of cases should be dealt with within six hours.
Around the country 663 hospital beds were occupied by patients whose acute care had ended but could not be discharged home or to a nursing home.
The figures have been published by the Department of Health's Special Delivery Unit.
