INO wants A&E overcrowding declared national emergency

The Irish Nurses Organisation has called on the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, to declare the ongoing problem of overcrowding in accident and emergency departments as a national emergency.

The organisation has been highlighting the problem for several years and is currently engaged in a series of half-hour protests every Tuesday and Thursday in an effort to get something done about it.

However, INO deputy general secretary Dave Hughes said the situation was still not getting the attention it deserved.

"It seems that there's a tolerance level within Government and within the Health Service Executive management of the problem in accident and emergency and a laissez-faire attitude to the plight of the people who are there," he said.