As the second protest in a week over ambulance services in East Cork takes place, it has emerged that the HSE, health safety watchdog Hiqa, and the National Ambulance Service are to meet local people to discuss their fears.

The tragic death of Vakaris Martinaitis has been central to Ireland’s health debate since the incident occurred two weeks ago.

A HSE ambulance may have passed the seriously injured toddler, Vakaris Martinaitis, as he was being rushed to hospital in a neighbour’s car under Garda escort.

The HSE is refusing to reveal the location from which an ambulance should have been dispatched to pick up a fatally injured boy.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny outraged people in East Cork when he insisted in the Dáil yesterday that ambulance services in the area have been “enhanced and improved” — despite none being available for a child who fell from an upstairs window.

The Polish priest who conducted the funeral Mass of a toddler from East Cork who died after falling from a window struggled to hold back the tears during the service.

The audio recording of a frantic 999 call will play a key role in establishing why an available ambulance was not sent to help a critically injured toddler who had fallen from an upstairs window.

They were planning to celebrate his second birthday today. But instead, the parents of a toddler who died after falling from an upstairs window at the family home were last night preparing for his funeral.

A Co Cork town rocked by the second death of a child in two months has pleaded with the Government and the HSE to review the region’s ambulance cover.

The head of the group which represents paramedics has accused the Government of playing Russian roulette with peoples’ lives through its reorganisation of the ambulance service.