Latest: More than 8,000 patients spent time on trolleys waiting for beds in Irish hospitals last month, according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation.

Student nurses and midwives will have their pay increased from next month.

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation has described the rise in the number of patients presenting at hospital emergency departments as "unprecedented".

The INMO's executive council is to consider balloting for industrial action tomorrow.

Members of the public are being asked to join a lunchtime protest outside the Dáil later, calling for proper staffing for intellectual disability services.

The number of people awaiting hospital treatment on trolleys around the country jumped 51% in June.

Nurses say the first people to lose out in an underfunded and under-resourced health service are patients and their families.

The INMO is calling for an extra 1,000 beds to be opened to alleviate the hospitals overcrowding crisis.

Almost 9,000 patients were on trolleys at Irish hospitals around the country last month - the worst March figure in over a decade.