The health minister and her department secretary general, Michael Scanlan, will attend the taskforce's meeting on Tuesday and Harney will spell out that immediate improvements in A&E have to be a number one priority.

A spokesman for the Tanaiste said that the message to the taskforce would be: 'It has to be seen as an emergency. It cannot wait and the situation at the moment is not acceptable.' The Tanaiste would "imbue" the taskforce with a sense of urgency towards bringing about improvements, he said, adding that she would be "leading from the front" on the issue.

The spokesman played down suggestions that Harney's hardline stance was at odds with recent comments from HSE chief Professor Brendan Drumm. The HSE boss said he wanted to put in place longterm solutions to solve the crisis, as well as taking short-term measures to ease the plight of those who have to spend part of their hospital stay in A&E. But he warned that it could not be done within a matter of months.

The Tanaiste's spokesman said there was no difference in approach between Harney and Drumm on the issue but added that, as far as the Tanaiste was concerned, the issue has to be dealt with urgently.

The taskforce, chaired by Angela Fitzgerald, was set up in response to a spike in the number of people waiting on trolleys to 495.

The problems with A&E returned to the national airwaves last week, after conditions were strongly criticised by the actor Brendan Gleeson on the Late, Late Show nine days ago.

Gleeson described as "disgusting" the conditions elderly patients had to endure and was sharply critical of the current government, suggesting a "baboon" could sort the problem out.

Speaking last week, Drumm said the problem of patients having to spend hours or days on trolleys in A&E units was unacceptable, but it had existed for several years before he took up his position. He said that while people before him had treated the problem with urgency, he was "left with a problem that seems to be larger than ever".

Drumm said that internal processes in some hospitals were partly to blame and also pointed to x-ray departments closing early;

delayed discharges and a lack of out-of-hours GP cover in parts of Dublin as factors that went some way to explain "why this country seems to have a very major problem in its A&E departments".