A government TD has accused the Health Service Executive (HSE) of a "systematic intentional cover up" over maternity services at the Midland Regional Hospital in Portlaoise.

The Oireachtas Health Committee is hearing from parents of babies that died at the facility in recent years.

The director-general of the HSE is due to appear before the committee later this afternoon.

Deputy Regina Doherty says she is ashamed at the treatment of people by the HSE.

While a mother whose baby girl died at Portloaise Hospital says current management by the Health Service Executive (HSE) cannot be trusted to implement the changes required from a HIQA investigation into the maternity unit there.

Advocacy group Patient Focus has told the committee it has assisted 200 families who have had issues with their maternity care.

Amy Delahunt's daughter died in 2013.

She fought back tears as she outlined how she has no faith in current HSE management.

Committee chair deputy Jerry Buttimer earlier paid tribute to the parents.

You can watch the Health Committee proceedings LIVE below:

Meanwhile it has emerged medics had alerted both the HSE and the Department of Health to critical risks at the Portlaoise hospital four years ago.

Senior doctors, midwives and management in the Coombe hospital in Dublin and Mullingar and Portlaoise hospitals had outlined the serious need for more resources to tackle inadequate staffing and training in a 2011 report.

In their application for funding, seen by the Irish Times, they proposed the appointment of additional obstetricians and improved ultrasound and bereavement services.

These measures are now being implemented in the wake of the damning HIQA report.

The Health Minister Leo Varadkar said he will not allow the report criticising standards at the Midland Regional Hospital to be "another missed opportunity".

Mr Varadkar, speaking earlier this month, said he accepts all of the findings and the recommendations of the HIQA report.

"More than a decade of missed opportunities" is how Mr Varadkar described his standout impression of the report.

The report outlined a string of failures by hospital management in improving conditions, as well as cases where bereaved mothers were presented with their childrens' remains in tin boxes.