There was a baby boom in two of the State's largest maternity hospitals last year, according to figures released yesterday.
The number of babies born in the Coombe Women's Hospital reached 7,848 last year - the highest number since 1972.
Of those, 22 per cent of deliveries were to women from countries outside Ireland. This is a 2 per cent increase on the previous year and a 6 per cent increase since the hospital began recording such data in 2000.
The National Maternity Hospital in Holles Street has also recorded a major increase in the numbers of babies delivered in recent years; 8,378 babies were born in Holles Street in 2003 - the highest number since 1982.
In the past 10 years, Holles Street has had a 31.4 per cent increase in the number of babies delivered. Women from outside Ireland accounted for 20.06 per cent of mothers delivered last year.
A spokeswoman for the third Dublin maternity hospital - the Rotunda - said comparable figures had not yet been collated by the hospital.
The Coombe Women's Hospital, the largest provider of gynaecological services in the State, carried out gynaecological surgery on 5,054 women last year.
Dr Seán Daly, Master of the Coombe, said last year was "an exceptionally busy year" for the hospital. "Our records show that patient overcrowding was an issue for the Coombe back in 1972, but thankfully while we did have days when the hospital had to put extra beds on the wards last year, this was not a frequent occurrence."
No maternal deaths were recorded in the hospital last year, compared to one death in 2002. That death was the first in three years and involved an African woman who was HIV positive and died while receiving a liver transplant in another hospital.
Although the Coombe does not yet have a breakdown on the nationality of all women giving birth last year, African mothers accounted for the second-largest nationality in 2002, after Irish women.
They accounted for 5.32 per cent of mothers, followed by British women who made up 5.25 per cent.
Three per cent of mothers were from European countries not in the EU, including Russia.
The Coombe is planning a "significant" extension.
Dr Daly said the new wing would facilitate the expected growing demand for maternity and gynaecology services.
