The Health Minister has paid tribute to the courage of the families involved in the HIQA report into conditions at Portlaoise Hospital.

Leo Varadkar has made a promise to address all of the findings of the HIQA report into hospital conditions at the Midlands Regional Hospital.

The report outlines how the grieving mothers of dead newborn children were told not to cry in wards - and had their children's remains returned to them in tin boxes.

The HSE responded to the report by saying it accepts all of the recommendations, and also noted that significant improvements have already been made are are or underway in the hospital.

Minister Varadkar says that it was difficult to read the details of some of the cases outlined in the report: