Health unions have criticised employers for not implementing adequate safety measures at hospitals following an increase in violent attacks on medical staff.
In the last two years there have been 100 recorded attacks on medical staff. Each of these has caused employees to take at least three days off work, according to figures obtained from the Health and Safety Authority.
At St James's Hospital in Dublin there were 79 reported incidents of verbal or physical abuse against staff members in the first six months of this year. This is almost double the number reported in 1998.
Beaumont Hospital has had five reported violent incidents this year. Last year there were none. Several other hospitals around the State were unable to give accurate figures.
Drug-affected behaviour is one of the likely causes. Unions are looking for measures such as closed-circuit TV and more security staff at medical premises.
The general secretary of the Irish Nurses' Organisation, Mr Liam Doran, said: "We're very unhappy with the reactions and willingness of employers to implement security measures at hospitals around the country.
"Attacks against working staff are an everyday factor of working life, especially in accident and emergency departments.
"We have called for extra lighting facilities, closed-circuit TV and extra security guards to provide a physical human presence to try to prevent these attacks."
Mr Fintan Hourihan, industrial relations officer of the Irish Medical Organisation, indicated that the union would be making submissions to have the 1989 Health and Safety Act reviewed.
He said: "We will be making the case that more resources need to be put into safety. There's supposed to be a safety representative in every workplace but the main problem is that there aren't enough resources to implement the 1989 Act, and in some cases it remains aspirational."
The Psychiatric Nurses' Association restated the need for more resources to go towards safety in the State's psychiatric hospitals. Its general secretary, Mr Des Kavanagh, said: "If you compare the attacks in the past 10 years, there have been many more, and the intensity of the assault is greater, and extreme use of violence is more common.
"There are more drug-induced psychosis attacks caused by LSD or even hash combined with an often already present mental illness. Often the level of aggression is at a high level."
A representative of the Health and Safety Authority, Mr David Denny, said: "Some health service employers are better than others, and it varies from one part of the country to another and even from clinic to clinic within one health board, but more could be done, and more should be done."
Meanwhile in Northern Ireland the annual report of the Royal Victoria Hospital published last week showed that incidences of violence against medical staff doubled last year. This has prompted the hospital to provide extra security cameras, personal alarm buttons and stab-proof vests for staff in the accident and emergency department.