The Irish Nurses' Organisation's (INO) second day of lunchtime protests at overcrowding in A&E units took place today.
Demonstrations were held outside Tallaght Hospital, Cavan General Hospital and Mayo General Hospital in Castlebar today.
The protests are to continue at selected hospitals until the end of the month.
Labour party leader Pat Rabbitte and deputy leader Liz McManus joined the picket outside Tallaght Hospital to support the INO's Enough is Enoughcampaign .
In a joint statement Mr Rabbitte said "the Minister for Health made a promise that there would be a significant improvement in the A&E crisis by the end of March of this year. This crisis has not been alleviated".
Ms McManus added: "Having met today with Kevin Kelly, acting CEO of the HSE and senior directors who appeared before the Oireachtas Committee on Health, it appears to me there has been no new thinking or urgency brought to this problem."
"In fact no Minister of Health's record so far has been dismal and has led to nurses and the public taking this unprecedented action," she said.
On the first day of the protests, more than 20 individuals and businesses pledged to build, furnish and fit out three Portakabins to give extra room for patients attending the normally overcrowded accident and emergency unit at Dublin's Mater hospital.
Pledges of support were made through the RTÉ Livelineprogramme. Callers told the programme of the suffering faced by relatives waiting for days on trolleys in A&E.
In a statement last night the Mater said it appreciated the offers of goods and services and that it was now evaluating them based on its operational needs.
According to the INO there were a total of 264 patients on trolleys today, however figures for Navan hospital were not available.