Minister for Health James Reilly has spoken of the "dehumanising nature of the way some people were dealt with" in the cases of the four families whose babies died during or shortly after birth at the Midland Regional Hospital in Portlaoise.

Dr Reilly apologised to the families and said he found it “totally unacceptable” that people were not informed that investigations had been carried out.

“I’m appalled there are two patients who don’t even know still that those investigations have taken place and I’ve instructed my general secretary through my CMO [chief medical officer] to get the HSE to contact those patients today immediately so that they get their due rights.”

He is awaiting a report from the chief medical officer and indicated other reports were necessary beyond the “medical, clinical” aspects, to investigate governance issues.

He said he would take whatever action was necessary arising from that report. “I’ll wait for the full report and I’ll take whatever action needs to be taken arising from that, including Hiqa, whom I consider to be a very independent body, further reviewing the entire service if that is required.”

The Minister was speaking to reporters on Friday at Naas General Hospital in the wake of the RTÉ Prime Time programme which investigated the deaths of the babies over a six-year period. He described the broadcast as "very upsetting, disturbing".

Dr Reilly said there was “inordinate failure, not just clinically, but in the management of the case and what I think a lot of people would say is the dehumanising nature of the way some people were dealt with”.

He said: “I’d like to take this opportunity to apologise to the families”. The HSE has also apologised “unequivocally” to the families.

But the father of a baby boy who died in Portlaoise Hospital said it was a “shocking indictment” of the HSE that a death needed to be aired in the media in order to obtain answers.

Mark Molloy and his wife Róisin lost their baby Mark 22 minutes after his birth at the hospital in Portlaoise on January 24th, 2012.

The Co Offaly couple, who had to seek to have their son’s death register changed from stillborn to newborn, spent almost two years looking for answers from the HSE.

“It astounded us the wall that went up, it’s bad enough losing your baby,” said Mr Molloy. “They just ignore you, ignore you in the hope you go away.”

Likening it to an “ostrich policy” where they appeared to just “stick their head in the sand,” he said “they did their damnedest not to give us those answers.”

After two almost two years adhering to “the HSE processes and procedures,” Mr Molloy and his wife realised “the only way to get it out there is to go public”.

Mr Molloy is now calling for an independent inquiry, not just into baby Mark’s death but into the deaths and injuries of all babies at the hospital.

“We would be looking for a Hiqa report totally independent, similar to the Savita report,” he said. “We would not be happy with a HSE report, it has to be independent.”

In participating in the programme, the Molloys were very conscious of the sensitivities of people who have lost children.

Mr Molloy was eager to point out that support was available, particularly from Patient Focus (patientfocus.ie) and A Little Lifetime Foundation which can be found at isands.ie.

A HSE helpline has been set up at the Midland Regional Hospital Portlaoise to deal with patients’ concerns: 057-8696076. The line is open from 9am to 5pm Saturday and Sunday.