A report commissioned by the South Eastern Health Board (SEHB) has recommended that circumcision be made available at Waterford Regional Hospital on cultural and religious grounds.
This follows the death of a Nigerian infant in a botched home circumcision in Waterford City last August.
The report recommended that until the Department of Health produced guidelines for circumcision on religious or cultural grounds, the SEHB should provide a regional service at Waterford Hospital.
It claimed the Health Board had a responsibility for protecting children in the region and should "make arrangements for providing a service to those who require circumcision for medical, religious or cultural reasons".
The procedure is considered by many in the Jewish and Islamic faiths as essential to the practice of their religion.
The report's author, Dr Neville De Souza, a specialist in public medicine, says the majority of the children involved are those of asylum seekers - and they are not in a position to seek medical intervention.
Dr De Souza warned: "If the health board does not provide a service , they will continue to access individuals who lack experience and expertise. The procedures will be carried out in an unsafe environment with the consequences we have witnessed."
The report estimated the maximum number of children requiring circumcision in the region annually would be around 100.
The Department of Health has appointed an expert group to look into the issue, but it is not due to report back for another three to six months.
Criminal proceedings are under way against a man who allegedly used a razor blade to circumcise a month-old baby, who later died in hospital last August in Waterford.
