The Royal College of Midwives' (RCM) has that maternity care in the province is facing a crisis due to an increase in the birth rate and lack of staff.

And the Chairman of Lisburn City Council's Corporate Services Committee, Councillor Paul Givan, said it would be "utter madness" to even consider reducing the maternity services at Lagan Valley in that climate.

Mr Givan said: "Not only will this have a detrimental affect on mothers to be in Lisburn it may also compromise the care of women in other, already over stretched areas which will have to accommodate those who would have previously attended the Lagan Valley Hospital."

The number of babies born in Northern Ireland last year rose to 24,000 - 2,000 more than two years ago.

Breedagh Hughes, from the RCM, said staffing levels had not increased to cope with the extra workload and warned the planned closure of the maternity unit at the Lagan valley Hospital was now more unacceptable than ever.

Mr Givan said the figures show that the thinking behind the decision to close the Lagan Valley hospital's maternity unit is "wrong because the figures that were used to justify the closure are out of date".

He said: "There are literally thousands more babies being born than had previously been calculated. Instead of closing our maternity units we need to be investing further in them, and preparing to enhance maternity provision and provide additional choice for mums to be. The people of the Lagan Valley area now know that the closure of the maternity unit is not only a bad idea, it is now completely unjustifiable. Furthermore, that proposed closure will have a major knock on effect in the greater Belfast and Craigavon areas."

He warned: "To ignore expert advice, such as that given by the Royal College of Midwives, would be disastrous, compromising the future care of mums to be, not just in Lisburn but across Northern Ireland."