"Citizens Information" is a Govt-funded website so it's them that's saying it, not me.
As I read it, as long as you turned up at ED with a doctor's note or in the back of an ambulance, you'll pay nothing. Worst case scenario, you pay €100 tops as a public patient. I'm no expert so I could be wrong.
A few years ago, hospitals were trying to make extra money by grabbing people in the ED and asking them if they had health insurance. If they said 'yes', they got upgraded on the computer system for a private bed etc even if none was available. They definitely didn't skip the ED queue and mostly they got nothing extra when they went on a ward because of overcrowding. But the insurance company got a huge bill. Pretty scummy behaviour, if you ask me. Maybe that's why the new rules were brought in?