The HSE has asked people to consider all care options available before presenting at busy emergency departments this Easter Bank Holiday weekend, to avoid "longer" wait times.
HSE's National Director, Access and Integration Grace Rothwell said hospitals are "extremely busy" with emergency rooms seeing "significantly increased numbers of patients".
Patients presenting with non-urgent injuries could face longer waiting times, depending on the "number of patients attending and the severity of patient illnesses", the HSE said in a statement.
While all patients who present at emergency departments will be seen and treated, it said the "sickest and most urgent" will be prioritised.
It said its staff "regret that anyone might experience long delays in an ED", urging people to consider services including GPs, pharmacists, injury units, and GP Out of Hours services first.
"Any patient requiring emergency hospital treatment should not delay and should come to the ED, or dial 999 or 112 in an emergency," said the HSE.
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Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Ms Rothwell said that their systems are "very busy" and there are "inevitable" delays when everybody presents to an emergency department at once.
She said that while they "don't get it right" everywhere on every day, they are "moving in the right direction".
"Whilst today unfortunately we don't meet everybody's need, we certainly meet a lot of need.
"On an average day, there's 4,500/5,000 people presenting to the emergency department and we admit less than a thousand of those, so roughly 75% of people are seen, treated and discharged on any given day," Ms Rothwell added.
National Clinical Advisor and Group Lead, Access and Integration for the HSE Dr Michael O'Connor reminded people injury units around the country are open seven days a week and do not require an appointment.
However, he stressed that people who are seriously ill should not delay in attending an ED.
"We have systems in place across our busy emergency departments, which involves triage, identifying those who are most critically ill," he said.
