A baby is born addicted to alcohol or illegal drugs such as heroin and cocaine every 10 days here.

The head of one of Ireland’s leading maternity hospitals has claimed the HSE has failed to enforce reforms called for in the aftermath of Savita Halappanavar’s death, insisting dangerous services and staff gaps remain.

The head of a maternity hospital is hitting out at the slow pace of improvements in his sector.

The Education Minister has today rejected claims that the new legislation on abortion is flawed.

The voluntary hospitals top-up pay scandal is damaging news for both the sector and patients dependent on it.

The committee stage of the abortion legislation will continue today, with the contentious suicide clause to be discussed.

There may never be an abortion carried out in Ireland on the grounds that a woman is suicidal because she is likely to travel to England in such circumstances, according to the Master of the National Maternity Hospital , Rhona Mahony.

There were times yesterday when the Seanad chamber took on the character of a spaceship, en route to a world far removed from the earthy lives of most people.

The Master of the Rotunda Hospital, Dr Sam Coulter Smith, has said the inclusion of suicide in the new abortion legislation poses a "moral dilemma" for doctors.

The masters of two major maternity hospitals will give evidence today before a parliamentary hearing on proposed changes to abortion legislation.

One of the country’s biggest maternity hospitals, the Rotunda in Dublin, had six cases last year where pregnancies were terminated to save mothers’ lives.

The Master of the Rotunda Maternity Hospital has said six pregnancies were terminated at the hospital last year in order to save the life of the mother.

The head of one of the country’s leading maternity hospitals has warned that HSE cutbacks are putting expectant mothers’ lives at risk, following the worst official annual death rate in a decade.

SAVITA Halappanavar was just 11-years-old when the X case judgment was handed down. Today, she’s a martyr to the political cowardice that, for two decades, refused to implement that ruling.

Sites in Blanchardstown and Belcamp in Dublin are not right for the new National Children's Hospital, according to the Master of the Rotunda hospital, Sam Coulter Smith.

Health Minister Dr James Reilly has been told that he needs to make a decision on where build the new National Children's Hospital.

A leading oncologist has said that the new National Children's Hospital should be built at St James's Hospital in Dublin, and not at the Mater.

Doctors working in the country’s maternity services have warned of a threat to the lives of mothers and babies if a predicted exodus of midwives, in an effort to avoid pension cuts, takes place next month.

RISING obesity levels in pregnant women are contributing to a growing number of increasingly complex births, the Health Service Executive (HSE) head of obstetrics and gynaecology has warned.

THE imminent swine flu vaccine may not be “suitable” for pregnant women, a leading Irish expert has admitted.