It's emerged thousands of pregnant women have no access to routine mid-pregnancy scans to check for abnormalities.
The scan looks in detail at the unborn baby's bones, heart, brain and spinal cord among others.
A number of hospitals in Ireland only offer the scan to high risk patients or by request only.
In St Lukes in Kilkenny only 159 scans were carried out last year, despite over 1,700 births taking place in the hospital.
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However in University Hospital Waterford all 2,078 babies born there had received the check.
A lack of qualified staff with the necessary expertise is among the main reasons for the lack of scans.
