The Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said a new mortuary will be built at University Hospital Waterford.
Last week, a number of consultants claimed that conditions were so bad at the University Hospital Waterford mortuary that dead bodies had been left on trolleys, often leaking body fluids on to the floor.
Speaking today, Mr Varadkar said the new mortuary has planning permission and it is going to tender.
The complaints were made in a letter to the South-South West Hospital Group in Cork last October by four pathologists and first reported by the Waterford News & Star newspaper.
In the letter, the pathologists complained about a lack of refrigeration facilities and cramped conditions.
They said that the conditions had caused almost unspeakable distress to families.
The consultants said that some families had been forced to have closed-coffin funerals for their relatives because of the condition of their remains.
In the letter of 18 October 2018, the consultant pathologists said the facilities were "a gross affront to the dignity of the deceased and bereaved".
The letter was signed by consultant pathologists Dr Rob Landers, Dr Nigam Shah, Dr Fergus MacSweeney and Dr Christine Shilling.
Speaking on RTÉ's Today with Miriam O'Callaghan last Wednesday, Dr Landers said a new mortuary was needed at the hospital as a matter of urgency and described conditions in the current mortuary as "quite primitive".
Mr Varadkar said: "In relation to the claims and counter claims. I don't know for sure what the truth is. We have a letter from consultants last October alleging that there were dead bodies on trollies and decomposing.
"However no evidence is being brought forward to support that. The coroner was unaware of it. The funeral homes who have been asked were unaware of it.
"There were no incident reports from any staff and also there were no complaints from any families. It's definitely a strange story.
"I don't know if those claims are true or not but it doesn't seem that there is any evidence to support them," said Mr Varadkar.
