Trolley figures reach an all-time high

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has admitted he is baffled by the sky-rocketing trolley count crisis after claiming he does not know why the situation is spiralling out of control.

Mr Varadkar said it is “not entirely clear” what is going wrong after the number of people waiting on trolleys hit an all-time record high of 714, and as nurses lashed out at the “absolutely unsafe” conditions.

According to the latest Irish Nurses and Midwives’ Organisation figures, some 714 people were waiting on trolleys yesterday morning, including a 64-year-old man waiting 109 hours at Tallaght Hospital.