The Emergency Department forum will meet next week to address overcrowding at Dublin’s Beaumont Hospital.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny told the Dáil that the forum will meet on a monthly basis to address solutions to problems in emergency departments.
Speaking during Leaders’ Questions, he said the situation at Beaumont is not a satisfactory position and it is not the first time it has happened.
Beaumont Hospital urged people not to attend its department in recent days due to severe overcrowding.
All non-urgent procedures were either cancelled or postponed until further notice and GPs were asked not to refer new patients to the hospital’s ED if possible.
Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin asked the Taoiseach if he takes any responsibility "for what has happened", at the hospital.
He asked Mr Kenny if he would accept that there is a crisis and commit the necessary funding to alleviate the situation.
He said the Minister for Health is "no longer a commentator on the side lines" and that he needs to take responsibility.
The Taoiseach said €25 million of the health budget was set aside for 2015, but €3m of that was brought forward to 2014.
Yesterday Leo Varadkar said he believed the overcrowding at Beaumont would ease in a few days with the introduction of a number of measures, including 19 step-down beds and additional nursing home places to alleviate the pressures in the hospital.
