The health services watchdog says it can't guarantee that services in Midland Regional Hospital in Portlaoise are safe.
HIQA's report into services there says the H-S-E failed to take appropriate action deal with a litany of issues in the hospital - and says the HSE is "not a learning organisation".
It's also found that until last year, the hospital's emergency department - which was open 24 hours a day - only had a consultant on site for 24 hours each week.
The report was undertaken after a Prime Time documentary investigating the deaths of five babies at the hospital.
HIQA's Margaret Murphy says there were serious problems with the way parents were informed about the death of their children:
