A fire officer was called to Mullingar hospital in recent weeks as a result of concerns about overcrowding.
The Industrial Relation Officer with the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation says two patients made the calls around three weeks ago.
Albert Murphy said he witnessed the extent of the overcrowding for himself where there was almost literally no floor space available.
He says the fire office attended the scene and ordered that space to be made in the hospital.
We had a situation in Mullingar three weeks ago where two patients actually rang the fire officer because of the overcrowding and I witnessed it myself. The place was chock-a-bloc with people and it wasn't safe. You couldn't stand more than 30 seconds in the one spot because you were being moved because people needed to get access.
The fire officer came and did an inspection and requested the the hospital decompress and discharge patients to make space.
