Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, has placed hundreds of unborn children on its system deemed to be 'at-risk of significant harm' over the past eight years.
The figures, which were obtained by the Irish Daily Mail, show 726 babies were placed on Tusla's Child Protection Notification System.
The CPNS is a national record of all children for whom a plan has had to be devised in order to make sure they are protected.
Barnardos CEO Suzanne Connolly says Tusla usually have very good reason for giving such protections:
"When children are placed on the Child Protection Registers, it's because there are serious concerns about a parent's capacity to care for them. And that's usually because of issues to do with addiction, that could be drug abuse or alcohol abuse, or the relationship between the parents. So in that situation, it's really important that a network of support is put in place to ensure that the child can be at home and cared for properly".
