The Health Minister wants to reduce the number of people waiting on trolleys to an average of 70 on any given day.

It comes as today's trolley watch figures from the Irish nurses and midwives organisation show 413 people are currently waiting for a bed.

Leo Varadkar is appearing before the Oireachtas Health Committee - to discuss the revised estimates for the cost of Health Service for this year.

His comments come as the Irish Times has revealed that January was the worst month for overcrowding at emergency departments since the Government came to power, and the second-worst month ever.

Already this week overcrowding figures went over the 500 mark.

But Minister Varadkar says he's committing to cutting those times: