The maternity units in Monaghan and Dundalk have been given a reprieve in a specially-commissioned review of maternity services in the North Eastern Health Board.
The report was commissioned by the board earlier this year after the closure of the Monaghan unit and the downgrading of the Dundalk unit.
The two units have been temporarily closed since March 1st after insurance cover was withdrawn, leaving expectant mothers to travel to Drogheda, Cavan or Dublin to have their babies.
The report has been welcomed by the Irish Nurses' Organisation (INO), which represents the 40 midwives affected by the closures.
Yesterday, Mr Patrick Kinder, chairman of the Maternity Services Review Group (MSRG), presented the findings of the group to a meeting of board members.
There were 170 written submissions to the MSRG, of which 113 and 23 wanted the retention or upgrading of consultant-led obstetric services in Dundalk and Monaghan respectively. Just eight respondents supported the recommendations of the Condon report.
The report emphasises the important skills of midwives and concludes that all five acute hospitals in Drogheda, Dundalk, Cavan, Monaghan and Navan should have midwife-led units.
These would be for low-risk women and also allow for more women to consider home births.
"We welcome the increased autonomy for midwives," said INO spokeswoman Ms Patsy Doyle.
There is genuine concern on how the report can be implemented as soon as possible "giving cognisance to the shortage of midwives at present and that we have no reservoir of them", she added.
The key finding is that Our Lady of Lourdes hospital in Drogheda remain the flagship maternity unit in the region. It will be consultant-led and provide services including all pregnancy complications.
The report also recommends rapid access to adult intensive care facilities, neonatal intensive care for all viable birth weights and gestational ages, and making epidurals available to over 80 per cent of women having Caesareans. It recommends Cavan General Hospital unit be almost as high support as Drogheda, with a few exceptions involving high-risk mothers or babies needing long-term intensive care.
In addition, it wants midwife-led units in both Drogheda and Cavan, close to the high-support services if required, with the phased reopening of Dundalk and Monaghan, which would also be midwife led.
In a clear acknowledgment of the importance of midwives, the report recommends a midwifery service in the community be provided which would cover home births and be linked to the mid-wife-led units.
Despite the much-publicised shortage of midwives and trained neonatal care nurses, the report says a number of appointments must be made urgently, "to sustain the present level of maternity and childcare services".
The report will be publicly debated at the next meeting of the board when it will be recommended for adoption. It will then be up to a task force to oversee its implementation. "This is good news but the real proof of the pudding will be the date of its implementation," said Ms Doyle.