The Health Service Executive (HSE) says it is not in a position to publish accurate figures on bed closures ahead of the findings of a nationwide audit of hospitals.
The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) now claim that cutbacks have led to the closure of nearly 2,000 beds at hospitals and nursing homes.
The INMO says 86 beds have been closed at the Midlands Regional Hospital in Tullamore while 62 have been shut in both Cork University and Beaumont Hospitals.
The union lists over 70 acute hospitals, smaller hospitals and nursing homes where a total of 1,947 beds have been cut.
When contacted the HSE was not in a position to provide any figure on closed beds.
They said a nationwide audit was underway to ensure all hospitals are using the same criteria before they can say definitively how many beds are affected.
However the HSE stopped publishing bed closure figures on its website last December.
The HSE has not given an indication of when this audit will be completed.
A spokesperson for the HSE says it will not be completed until later this year.
