Minister for Health Mary Harney said she hoped "common sense will prevail" and the new €75 million Cork University Maternity Hospital would open tomorrow.
Ms Harney said the HSE, medical consultants at the hospital and midwifery managers were completely satisfied that the level of midwifery staffing available was sufficient for the safe opening of 128 of the 144 beds.
"It is encouraging that more than 300 midwives have attended orientation programmes at the new hospital during the week."
Labour health spokeswoman Liz McManus urged the Minister to establish the "exact difficulty" to ensure best practice within the HSE. "People were astonished to learn that this magnificent hospital could not open due to industrial relations difficulties.
"Does the Minister have concerns regarding poor management at HSE level? She might investigate why a major brand new hospital remained closed due to issues that would have been resolved well before a new project's opening in any well-managed organisation."
Ms Harney said that while efforts were made at local level to resolve the issue, it ended up going through all the State's industrial relations machinery.
"The Labour Court recommended that it should open and staffing levels were recommended and had been agreed. The ratio of midwives to births in the Cork hospital will be 1:23, while the National Maternity Hospital ratio is 1:32. The director of midwifery and the obstetricians there have stated that it was safe.
"While I do not wish to say anything that might inflame the situation, I hope the difficulty can be resolved and that the hospital can be opened next Saturday. One of the issues to be addressed is the speed at which the required additional staff can be recruited."
Ms Harney said that the report from the Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists relating to nationwide maternity services "suggests all existing maternity units should be retained. This came as a surprise because previous advice from obstetricians did not seem to take that view.
"In recent years, insurance issues and other factors led to the closure of maternity units, based on patient safety and best practice." It was clear, she said, that the number of consultants must be doubled, which made agreeing their new contract so important.
