Some additional lifting of restrictions will take place at maternity hospitals in the coming weeks, according to a senior HSE official.
New guidance from the HSE will allow for partners to attend 12-week scans and to be present during some caesarean sections and early scans if miscarriages are suspected.
HSE Clinical Director of Women and Infants Health Dr Peter McKenna said with the move to ease restrictions further there are conflicting priorities; to keep people safe and also to keep the process of childbirth as normal as possible.
He said the conversation can mean tension between these two priorities. Dr McKenna said if a C-section is done under general anaesthetic, there would not be much of a role for partners to support, as the woman