Parents and medical professionals have expressed concern that thousands of children have missed vital developmental checks in the past year.
More than half of all babies did not receive one of their main development health checks due to the pandemic. The HSE has said that last year just over 28,000 infants reaching ten months had the check on time before reaching the age of one.
An average of 60,000 babies are born in Ireland every year. The HSE said these checks were delayed because of the redeployment of Public Health Nursing Staff due to Covid-19.
It said as more staff are recruited for Covid-related services, public health nursing staff are returning to their core duties and child development checks will be considered one of the