A new 98-bed hospital wing has been officially opened at the Mater Hospital in Dublin today.
The €103m Rock Wing includes 16 new intensive care unit beds, plus a new National Isolation Unit.
All of the rooms are single rooms and the first patients are expected at the end of next month, after all the systems are tested.
The new National Isolation Unit will be used for major infectious disease cases such as Ebola and will play an important part in any future pandemic.
The nine-storey building will treat around 5,000 patients a year.
The facility was built over two years under Covid-19 emergency legislation and within budget and health officials say the fast-track approach saved €40m.
Speaking on RTÉ's News at One, Professor Jim Egan, clinical director at the Mater Hospital, said it was a model that could be replicated elsewhere as it was conceived and completed within two years.
On staffing, he said that recruitment is a challenge, but was progressing well and they hoped to open the beds actively in the next few weeks.
Prof Egan said that intensive care would be opened incrementally, two beds at a time, as it requires intensive training of staff.
He said that the National Isolation Unit would be ready in the next 12 to 24 months.
The new wing was officially opened today by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly.
The Mater Hospital has also been designated as one of the new major trauma centres for Ireland to deal with life-threatening injuries and major accidents.
The new wing will also deal with these cases.
The second major trauma centre will be at Cork University Hospital.
Other trauma units are being set up around the country for less complex cases.
