There is “no safe amount and no safe time” during pregnancy to drink alcohol, given an estimated 600 babies are born here each year with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS), a specialist in public health medicine has warned.

Temple Street goes ‘off-call’ as precaution, transferring critically ill children, cancelling surgeries

All babies should undergo a test to find out if their mother drank alcohol during pregnancy, a neonatal expert told the Joint Committee on Health and Children.

The make-up of a review team to examine at least 12 cases of questionable care of newborns at Portiuncula Hospital which left some babies dead and others brain damaged has been announced.