A protest is due to get underway this morning outside Cork University Maternity Hospital where calls are being made for the abolition of restrictions which excludes partners from attending appointments and scans with expectant mothers.
The demonstration is part of a series of nationwide protests organised by advocacy group AIMS who say that no evidence that supports the need for such restrictions has been published.
The organisation says they're fielding calls daily from parents who are upset and stressed by the restrictions and they say it's having an impact on their pregnancies.
Speaking to RedFM News Krysia Lynch of AIMS says this change shouldn't require protests and responsibility needs to be taken.
"This is the last thing that we wanted to or expected to do.
"We were hoping that the Minister for Health would take the lead, and if not the Minister for Health than the CEO of the HSE would have taken the lead.
"There's no joined up thinking here. The Minister is passing the buck to the HSE, the HSE is passing the buck to the CEOs of the hospital groups, the hospital groups are passing it down to the individual units.
"And right in the middle of all of this are the women, the mothers, the babies, the partners, and they are all having extremely difficult experiences."
