The Department of Health has said that 535 candidates have now applied for controversial hospital consultant posts advertised by the Government in April on revised terms and conditions.
Minister for Health Mary Harney had said earlier yesterday that a "couple of hundred" applications had been received.
However a spokesman said later that the correct figure was 535. He said that the briefing material provided to Ms Harney had been overtaken by more recent information.
Organisations representing hospital consultants have not agreed to the terms of the 68 new consultant positions advertised by the Government in April.
The organisations, the Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) and the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO), have advised non-consultant doctors in Ireland and abroad not to apply for the positions.
The organisations had also said that their members would not participate in the recruitment process by shortlisting candidates or serving on interview panels.
Doctors appointed to the new posts would be expected to work as part of teams over an extended working day. There would also be significant restrictions on private practice rights. The salaries on offer range up to €205,000.
Asked yesterday by reporters as to where the applicants for the posts were from, Ms Harney said: "I think they've come from everywhere, Ireland and overseas. I haven't access to the details of the individuals nor would it be appropriate for me to do so, but I understand that it's a couple of hundred."
She said that the Health Service Executive had never put a closing date on applications for the posts.
Ms Harney said consideration could now be given to introducing a closing date, and after applications close there will have to be a process for putting people into the jobs.
The Minister is to meet the IHCA today on the contract issue.
Ms Harney said yesterday that she was "hopeful" that a deal could be reached.
"Certainly the framework document produced by Mark Connaughton [ the independent chairman of the talks on a new contract] in April is something that I welcomed and I felt very positive about that.
"I think if we could focus on that framework then I believe we have the capacity to reach agreement and I certainly hope that is the case."
Ms Harney met the IMO on Tuesday in talks that were described as "constructive".
The IMO's consultant committee is to be briefed on these talks at a meeting today.
IMO director of industrial relations Fintan Hourihan said last night it would normally be expected that there would be 15 or 20 applicants for a consultant post and that the numbers announced by the department appeared to be on the low side.
He said that the numbers of applicants were largely unimportant.
The IMO has stressed that candidates for consultant posts should have completed formal training programmes in the specialities concerned.