Hospital consultants say they want a clear signal of more investment in the system, when the Health Minister addresses their conference this morning.

Simon Harris is attending the annual conference of the Irish Hospital Consultants Association in Limerick today.

It comes the day after new figures showed nearly 678 thousand people are now on hospital waiting lists.

The IHCA says it's hoping next week's budget will see measures to tackle the problems facing hospitals.

President of the IHCA Dr Tom Ryan says waiting lists are a major issue for his members;

"The fact is that patients in increasing numbers are awaiting elective surgery, about 80,000 patients waiting for elective surgery.

There's about half a million patients waiting to see a consultant as an out patient."