The National Virus Reference Lab has announced it won't be able to process any covid-19 tests over the next two weekends.
The UCD facility says the decision has been made due to unavoidable staff shortages.
It has apologised for the late notice and any convenience this may cause over the five days that tests won't be processed.
The HSE says testing capacity will not be affected.
It says the National Virus Reference Lab processes around 600 swabs per day, and over the course of this weekend and next these swabs will be completed by community labs.
The HSE says the measures will have no negative impact on testing responses as it's still working within the available capacity.
The announcement comes just days after it emerged that 2,500 people who tested positive for covid-19 had to carry out their own contact tracing.
