The deputy leader of Sinn Féin Mary Lou McDonald says the crisis in our hospitals will not be solved so long as Enda Kenny and Joan Burton are Taoiseach and Tánaiste.

Some of the biggest hospitals in the country have had to cancel non-urgent operations to cope with overcrowding from Emergency Departments.

In the past 24 hours, Cork University Hospital and the Mater and Beaumont in Dublin have been under severe pressure.

Cork University Hospital has cancelled all non-urgent elective surgeries to help cope with demand.

The Mater Hospital is urging the public to stay away from its emergency department and has said, where possible, people should attend their GP first.

Ms McDonald says the current government does not have the will to resolve this.