The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation wants an immediate meeting of the Emergency Department Taskforce - after the number of patients waiting on trolleys for admission rose above 600 for the first time.

There are now calls for the Dáil to be recalled to discuss the crisis.

Nurses at Dublin's Beaumont Hospital have voted in favour of industrial action over emergency department overcrowding.

All of the hospital's members of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation voted in favour of a work to rule on the 27th of January.

INMO General Secretary Liam Doran says the action at Beaumont won't impact patient care - and more hospitals may follow.

Speaking to Newstalk Breakfast this morning, he stated: "We stand over our numbers. We've been counting them the same way for the last ten years.

"The figure isn't the issue. The issue is that it exists."

On the industrial action at Beaumont Hospital, he commented: "I stress that action in its first phase will not involve patient care. Our members will be withdrawing from all this statistical bureaucracy and administrative duties that the HSE has imposed on nursing staff."

"This can only be solved by a government and a political decision."

Here is his interview in full:

Meanwhile, the HSE's Assistant National Director of Acute Hospitals says overcrowding in emergency departments is "unacceptable" and a "growing concern".

The HSE's Angela Fitzgerald disputes that figure - but she admits overcrowding is now the number one issue facing hospitals.