The number of patients waiting on hospital trolleys on Monday hit 714 - the highest figure ever recorded.
In one hospital alone, there were 80 patients without a bed and forced to languish on trolleys and the emergency room and on wards.
The Irish Nurses & Midwives Organisation (INMO) which released the figures claimed the circumstances in which people are being cared for now is “absolutely unsafe”.
The worst affected facility was University Hospital Limerick where 80 patients were waiting to be allocated a bed.
The next worst was University Hospital Galway where 45 patients were on trolleys while there were 43 patients without a bed at Cork University Hospital.
INMO general secretary Phil Ni Sheaghdha said the number on trolleys would completely fill a large hospital.
She said: “To put this into context all of these people who are waiting on trolleys would completely fill a relatively large Irish hospital.
“The volume of patients is too high to give proper, correct and humane care. That is no longer possible.”
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In Dublin, the worst affected hospital was Tallaght where there were 40 patients waiting on trolleys.
The overcrowding crisis has now spread to the children’s hospitals - Temple Street and Crumlin - where there were 15 patients without beds.
The worst flu outbreak in years is being blamed for the record figures but the IMO have been warning that the hospitals are simply not able to cope with the numbers seeking treatment.
The INMO figures from last week showed that overcrowding exceeded 600 patients each day.
Phil Ni Sheaghdha told RTE radio’s News at One that patients are now being treated in unsafe conditions and dismissed claim that the overcrowding is down to the flu outbreak as “an excuse”.
She added: “I think the HSE is looking for excuses. They used the flu, then they used the storm when what they really should be looking at is how are they planning.
“They are not planning nationally. Locally they are doing their best. I attended a very busy ED (emergency department) last Thursday at Cork University hospital.
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"I would say there’s very little more they can do in the hospital. They’re doing their best.
"Their attendance levels are very high. Everybody is putting their shoulder to the wheel but it is not safe.
“In my opinion, if it was any other industry, there would now be a national inquiry into what planning went into the predictable surge in admissions and what planning to maintain patient safety and staff safety were taken on board and planned for last week.
“Because in my opinion there were none.”
Up until yesterday the highest level of overcrowding ever recorded under the INMO count system was 677 patients on January 3 last but the INMO then warned that this shocking record would soon be broken.