A Waterford TD said 40 people died from Covid at University Hospital Waterford in one week.
Matt Shanahan told the Dáil that additional morgue capacity had to be called upon.
The Independent Deputy said UHW "has the lowest budget of all the model four hospitals in the country."
"Parity of esteem is not extended to this hospital by the South/South West Hospital Group," he added.
Deputy Shanahan painted a bleak picture of the current situation at the hospital:
"UHW has just passed the tragic milestone of 40 Covid patient deaths in one week. Additional emergency morgue capacity has had to be called upon.
"We now have one of the highest numbers of Covid inpatients in the country while continuing to have the lowest number of healthcare personnel available to them.
He added that "Our crisis situation sees patients contracting Covid in hospital while our frontline staff are beyond burnout caring for them."
Taoiseach Micheal Martin said that "Unprecedented resources have been allocated to the health services this year, including Waterford and will continue both in terms of the context of Covid-19 and in relation to non-Covid health services as well.
He reiterated that there are "unprecedented resources going across the board, including University Hospital Waterford."
