The Taoiseach has challenged the Department of Health and the Health Service Executive to "measure up" following the HIQA report into the death of Savita Halappanavar.

Enda Kenny says it is important to make sure Irish hospitals apply the highest possible safety standards. Meanwhile the report has raised questions about the level of staff at maternity hospitals around the country.

The report looked at the death of Savita Halappanavar but also maternity services as a whole in Ireland.

It found her death could have been prevented on 13 separate occasions and that she was deprived of basic clinical care. The Taoiseach has challenged the Department of Health and the HSE to "measure up" .

He wants every pregnant woman to be confident of the standard of care they will receive in an Irish hospital. And he ha laid down the gauntlet to the Department and HSE to meet those expectations.

The father-in-law of Tania McCabe, the young woman who died during childbirth in 2007, says if recommendations were followed since her death, Savita Halappanavar would still be alive today.

Garda McCabe was pregnant with twins at the time and died after her membranes ruptured at Our Lady Of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda - one of her children survived.

The Health Minister James Reilly has also expressed concern about the similarities between Savita's death and the death of Garda McCabe - saying lessons have not been learned since then.

Her father-in-law Phillip told Northern Sound there is no doubt that if recommendations were followed through, Savita's outcome would have been different.

Speaking in the Dail earlier, the Tánaiste says the report spares no-one from the hospital ward to the Minister for Health.

The solicitor for her husband, Praveen Halappanavar, says he has concerns over whether the recommendations within in the report will be enforced.

Gerard O'Donnell says sanctions must be enforced on hospitals who fail to comply with the recommendations. And he he told The Pat Kenny Show that a follow through must happen to ensure that hospitals comply.

The report has turned the spotlight on staffing issues the HSE will now as the Minister for Health James Reilly more staff, in light of the HIQA findings.

Also speaking earlier, Minister Reilly said he believes more staff are needed but he said that does not explain what happened to Savita.

A National Review of Maternity Services is to get underway at which point, Minister Reilly says staffing levels will be looked at.