Management at Tallaght Hospital say they plan to increase staffing levels at the facility in an effort to deal with overcrowding.

10 extra nursing posts will be filled by this Monday, while 13 new care assistants and 19 specialist nurses will be hired in the coming weeks.

The Hospital was forced to cancel some non-urgent surgery and day case procedures today because of overcrowding.

The Health Minister James Reilly says they did the right thing to ensure patient safety, but he insists the models of care within our health system need to change.

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) said the hospital is full to capacity and staff are not able to deliver basic care. But Tallaght Hospital says there is no safety risk to patients.

In a statement today, the hospital said "Tallaght Hospital continues to implement an operational plan to deal with seasonal pressures on the Emergency Department (ED)".

"The measures taken in the operational plan are working and currently there are five patients on trolleys in the Emergency Department and none on the wards. This number is expected to fall in the coming hours".

"As part of the on-going management of this situation, Tallaght Hospital has rescheduled nine non-urgent elective procedures and six non-urgent surgical day cases out of 21 scheduled patients for today. These non-urgent procedures are being rescheduled for the coming weeks on a medical need basis and the patients involved have been notified" it added.

INMO Industrial Organiser Derek Reilly said earlier there are multiple problems at the facility.