611 patients are being treated on trolleys, chairs and in very clinically dangerous and environmentally inappropriate spaces in hospitals.

At University Hospital Limerick, there is 122 people on trolleys, with 74 people in the emergency department.

The current ceilings and caps on recruitment were very restrictive, Phil Ní Sheaghdha told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland. “The process of recruitment has become increasingly more difficult.”

The figures come as 506 patients are on trolleys in hospitals across the country.

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) has called on the Health Service Executive to end the moratorium on recruiting frontline patient-facing staff

Over 12,000 patients were forced to wait on trolleys at hospitals around the country this month

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation said over 121,526 patients have gone without hospital beds this year