A review of births, which took place over a 26 month period, at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital Drogheda, discovered 21 cases where babies in the breech position went undetected until after the onset of labour, according to the RTÉ Investigations Unit.
The review was ordered following the death of a baby in 2013 and two other serious incidents involving undetected breaches in 2014.
The death of the baby in 2013 is currently being examined by the coroner.
Another baby died in similar circumstances in 2004.
A breech occurs when a baby exits the pelvis with the buttocks or feet first as opposed to the normal head-first presentation.
Following the 2013 and 2014 events, the hospital undertook a retrospective review of all births during the period 1 May 2012 to 30 June 2014.
The total number of babies delivered during that period was 7,667.
The total number of babies born in the breech position was 221.
The total number of cases where breech was not diagnosed until after the onset of labour was 21, or almost 10% of the breech births.
The review found that 13 of the undetected breeches occurred in the Clinical Led Unit, while eight were undetected in the Midwifery Led Unit.
The eight cases discovered in the MLU were found to be "a disproportionally large number" for a unit where just 10% of the total births in the hospital take place.
According to the Health Service Executive, breech diagnosed in early labour is not considered a critical incident and would not usually be reported.
However, breech diagnosed in advanced labour is a "significant incident and would usually be reported".
The review found 13 of the 21 cases identified were only detected in advanced labour.
When asked if the 13 cases had been reported as "significant incidents" a spokesperson said the "the HSE cannot confirm, this evening, how many of the 13 cases had incident reports completed."
In a statement the HSE said that the results of the clinical audit indicate the rate of undiagnosed breech in labour is below that which has been reported in the small number of international studies that exist on the topic.
The statement also said that following implementation of a number of recommendations in the wake of the review "...the number of undiagnosed breeches has significantly reduced..."
