The maternity unit in Portlaoise Hospital is the most understaffed unit in the country, according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation.
The INMO carried out a survey of midwives and found that no maternity service has the internationally recommended midwife-to-birth ratio.
The ratio currently varies from one midwife to 30 births, rising to one midwife to 55 births in some units.
The internationally recommended ratio is 1 to 29.5 births.
A report into the Midlands Regional Hospital, Portlaoise – after four babies died there – found that maternity care was not safe or sustainable.