The HSE has confirmed a confidential review into baby and maternal deaths during childbirth covering the years 2021 to 2023 will start later this year.
However, campaign group Safer Births Ireland, for women and families affected by baby deaths, has called for the Government to set up an independent review into perinatal deaths.
Safer Births Ireland said there had been a substantial number of baby deaths in the last ten years, which have been documented by inquests, clinical reviews, court cases and reported in the media.
Co-founder Claire Cullen said concerns have been raised in various cases around fetal heartbeat monitoring, non-adherence to basic standards and guidelines, women not being listened to and apparent failures to recognise signs of labour and delayed deliveries.
Ms Cullen's son Aaron died five days after his birth at the Midland Regional Hospital in May 2016.
The HSE settled a High Court case for mental distress.
Safer Births Ireland wrote to the Taoiseach in April seeking an independent review and also held a briefing at Leinster House with TDs and Senators.
Public, patient involvement in review - HSE
In a statement, the HSE told RTÉ News that it is planning a confidential inquiry into perinatal deaths.
The terms of reference have yet to be agreed and it will be organised by the National Women & Infants Programme.
The HSE said that there will be public and patient involvement in the process.
The inquiry will initially cover the years 2021-2023 and then move on to other years and is due to begin later this year.
The HSE said that review will need to assess case notes and expert assessors will be identified.
These assessors will be drawn from obstetrics, midwifery, neonatology, neonatal nursing, perinatal pathology, foetal medicine and other specialties.
No assessor will be assigned a case involving their own hospital.
The HSE said that the Irish maternity system compares well with other countries in relation to safety and patient outcomes.
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Safer Births Ireland welcomed the review, but said it wants more detail and is concerned by its confidential nature.
The HSE said the process will be confidential in the sense that individual patient stories must be confidential, and not out of any lack of transparency.
It added that the majority of births take place without need for intervention and that infants are at low risk of death or sickness during the course of pregnancy.
However, the HSE said that, sadly, sometimes deaths happen and that it reviews individual cases.
The last official review, published alongside the national maternity strategy in 2016, said there are less than five baby deaths for every 1,000 births in Ireland, lower than England and Wales, Scotland and the Netherlands, but higher than Northern Ireland.
