The Gardaí have processed 5,500 garda vetting applications for healthcare workers over the past three weeks.
The applications have a turnaround time of just 1 or 2 days to get extra staff to the frontlines.
Senior government official Liz Canavan says the work of the gardaí means there's 5,500 more healthcare workers available.
"It's nearly 2,000 for the Health Service Executive, over 1,600 for the National Recruitment Federation for medical related staff, over 900 for the nursing homes for Ireland, and over 800 for independent hospitals, healthcare agencies and the volunteer sector."
