University Hospital Limerick is one of the country's busiest, dealing with 158 Covid-19 patients today. Staff there were also caring for 19 patients in intensive care.
Intensive care consultant at the hospital, Dr Catherine Motherway, said it is currently coping with the demands but it's a "day to day planning exercise" around staffing.
She said Covid patients are staying in ICU "considerably longer" than non-Covid patients, averaging at two weeks instead of five or six days.
Dr Motherway believes numbers coming to ICU will remain high for a "good number of weeks to come" and warned that the health system "needs the tap to be turned off" in the community.