Minister for Health Simon Harris has insisted that introducing abortion services by January 2019 will not overwhelm the health service.
Mr Harris was responding to concerns raised at the Oireachtas Health Committee on Wednesday.
During that hearing, Chairperson of The Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists Dr Peter Boylan described the timeline for the delivery of termination services as "challenging".
He said that all stakeholders needed to sit down and work out the pathways of care, noting that there was currently an infrastructural deficit.
His concerns were echoed by other medical professionals at the hearing.
However today, Mr Harris insisted that abortion services would be available by January 2019.
He said: "I get slightly frustrated when I hear people talking about issues in relation to capacity in the health service because we often only hear this argument when it comes to women’s health and women's reproductive healthcare.
"The reality of the situation is that this is not an overwhelming number for the Irish health service to deal with and we will make sure the Irish health service is adequately resourced to provide these services," he added.
Mr Harris was also asked by reporters about concerns that the three-day waiting period for access to abortion services was too long.
Dr Boylan had said the waiting period made presumptions about women regarding their own healthcare, saying "a lot of doctors feel its not necessary and should be dropped".
However today Mr Harris said: "We had a very lengthy debate we discussed the issues at great length and one of the issues that was discussed and put forward in a published draft bill before the referendum was that there would be a period of time between seeing the doctor for the first time and seeing the doctor for a second time, before a termination could take place".
Mr Harris said the people of Ireland voted in the referendum knowing that the three-day waiting period was included in the draft bill and, having voted yes "the people of Ireland have instructed us to get on with doing that".
