The Health Minister says the Fianna Fail Government produced horror stories in hospital emergency departments on an almost daily basis, when it was in power.

But Leo Varadkar did acknowledge the seriousness of the current overcrowding problem in hospitals around the country.

The Fine Gael TD last night defended the coalition's healthcare record, following a meeting of the Emergency Department's taskforce.

The Health Minister says that up until the summer, the overcrowding problem was improving, until a spike in the numbers of patients on trolleys last week.

But Leo Varadkar says that while Fianna Fail was in power, there were problems in hospitals all year round: “I’ve looked at the figures this morning and if you compare like with like and if you compare this time of year with previous years, the numbers of patients on trolleys at this time of year is at a seven year low,” he said.

“Overcrowding on trolleys is a chronic problem that goes back 15 years so what this taskforce is really about is getting on top of that problem once and for all,” he added.

Over 200 nurses demonstrated outside the Dáil earlier today, protesting at overcrowding in hospitals.

The demonstration is in advance of work to rule action by nurses in hospitals around the country over the coming weeks.

Nurses in seven hospitals have voted for industrial action in the coming weeks to protest against overcrowding in emergency departments.