A child admitted to Kerry General Hospital in Tralee last week after receiving injuries at her home has died.
The 3½-year-old girl had been critically ill since being admitted to the hospital with serious head injuries. She was on a life-support machine when she died yesterday afternoon. The machine had not been switched off.
Supt Pat Sullivan of the Garda in Tralee said a post-mortem would be carried out by assistant State pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster in the hospital today. The child's name was not being released last night, he said.
Gardaí were still investigating "the circumstances surrounding the death of this girl" and were awaiting post-mortem examination results.
Door-to-door inquiries had been carried out in the Killeen Woods estate in the Oakpark district of Tralee, where the family had been renting a house. A technical examination had taken place, the house was cordoned off and the scene remained preserved, Supt Sullivan said.
The girl was born in Kerry General Hospital in January 2002. Her Polish parents have been living in the town for a number of years. Gardaí were alerted at 3.40am last Thursday after she arrived at the hospital with serious head injuries.
The mother had remained with the child in the intensive care unit of Kerry General and the father of the child, who was in Poland at the time of the incident, travelled back to be at her bedside. Both parents were present when she died.
The Health Service Executive, Southern Area, confirmed the time of death as 3.23pm yesterday.