24 people died from flu since before Christmas
Twenty-four people have died from flu since before Christmas.
Health officials say the current outbreak gripping the country is the fifth worst since 2000.
Middle-aged and elderly people are currently the worst affected.
The HSE's Assistant National Director for Health Protection Dr Kevin Kelleher believes the flu outbreak has now peaked.
"There's just been a little bit of an increase this week, nowhere near the same degree of upsurges we've seen in the previous two or three weeks," he said.
"That would suggest either last week or this week will be the peak. The internal bet in our office is last week," he added.
