More than 40 patients waiting for beds at Limerick hospital on Christmas Eve

More than 140 patients were waiting on trolleys in Irish hospitals on Christmas Eve.

According to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, 99 of those patients were waiting in emergency departments, while 45 were in wards elsewhere.

University Hospital Limerick had the largest number of people waiting for a bed, at 43.

It was followed by Sligo University Hospital and St Vincent's University Hospital in Dublin where nine patients were waiting on beds in each hospital.

It comes as the HSE warned that hospital issions of people suffering with the flu are expected to double over the coming 10 days of the festive season.

HSE chief clinical director Dr Colm Henry warned there could be up to 900 flu cases in hospitals countrywide by the end of the year with cases expected to peak in early January.