A woman in the south of the country has died from swine flu, bringing to 18 the total number of deaths from the H1N1 virus in Ireland.
The HSE confirmed the death this evening.
There are currently 181 people in hospital with the virus and 12 are in intensive care. The number of infections has fallen, however, with just under 11,000 new cases of H1N1 virus reported in the last week.
The Department of Health has expressed concern at the low uptake of the vaccine among children aged between six months and five years. It has sent letters to over 250,000 parents offering the vaccine for children in that age group.