The Government has announced 74 million euro in new funding to tackle emergency department overcrowding.

44 million euro is going towards 16-hundred nursing home beds - while 30 million will be used on new transitional beds in communities.

The Health Minister says work on the scheme to tackle delayed discharges has already begun but it will take ‘eight weeks’ to fully implement.

He says if any patient is left on a trolley for more than 24 hours - it must be reported by hospital staff. 

Leo Varadkar says the overcrowding crisis won’t be fixed overnight - but today’s announcement will have an impact:

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation says 332 people are currently on trolleys in hospitals across Ireland.

The INMO’s General Secretary Liam Doran says he's optimistic about this scheme's prospects.