Portlaoise Hospital baby deaths: Is history repeating itself? 

The number of baby deaths across Ireland that are similar in circumstance and ruled as medical misadventure continues despite revelations a decade ago about Portlaoise Hospital and calls for an external investigation, writes Neil Michael

(Left to right) Ann Dunne (Hilary’s mother), Hilary and Paddy Murphy, and Paddy's father, Pat, at an inquest in Portlaoise into the death of their baby son Ódhran. Picture: Neil Michael

There were nine empty chairs this Christmas at the dinner tables of mothers who have attended Portlaoise Hospital maternity unit in the last 17 years.

Four should have been occupied by teenagers; and another four by younger children, still giddy with the magic of the holiday. The last chair should have a smiling toddler in it.