The chief executive of the HSE has told an Oireachtas committee that Crumlin Children's Hospital is in difficulty because it has failed to make non-frontline savings.

Scores of teddy bears were left outside the Dáil for a second day today by parents protesting against cuts at the state’s largest children’s hospital.

Hundreds of people are expected to attend a protest in Dublin today over ward closures at Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin.