One baby has died at the Rotunda Hospital with overcrowding a mitigating factor.
The Master of Ireland's busiest maternity hospital Professor Fergal Malone has warned that further lives may be lost if conditions don't improve.
More than 8,500 babies were delivered at the Rotunda last year, but hospital officials say cramped conditions are now challenging its infection control systems.
There are plans to move the hospital to a new site at Connolly Hospital in Blanchardstown - however experts say that is likely to be 20 years from now.
Sinn Féin says the public wants to see "less spin and more action" from the government on the health service.
