The Mater Hospital's old Accident and Emergency Department will close today with the opening of a new new state of the art facility tomorrow.

It follows years of vigils and campaigns by local people for an improvement in conditions there.

The Labour Party will hold a final vigil outside the Mater hospital A&E in Dublin this lunchtime.

Trade and Development Minister Joe Costello said it's been a long hard grind getting to this point, but it's been worth it: