Gardaí are treating the death of a three-year-old boy at his home on Friday as a tragic accident.
The boy, named locally as Pádraig Cunningham, was fatally injured when he was struck by a vehicle at Ballyduhig, west Co Limerick, at about 10.30am.
Emergency services rushed to the scene and tried to save the boy’s life but he was pronounced dead at University Hospital Limerick.
A postmortem will be conducted by a local pathologist and the matter referred to the office of the Limerick Coroner for an inquest.
Local Independent councillor Jerome Scanlan, who is a family friend, said the local community would do its best to support the boy’s parents, Robert and Denise Cunningham.
The family were being comforted by relatives and friends as they tried to come to terms with the sudden and tragic death of their young son.
“We’re all trying to come to terms with the tragic news in Ballyduhig today. It’s just dreadful, a frightening thing to happen,” said Mr Scanlan.
“My heart goes out to the family, and it is just unbelievable that something like this could happen to a 3½-year-old child. It’s just a dreadful scenario, it’s dreadful for his mother and his father and his three sisters that are aged a few years older than him – the eldest is 12.
“The family are pillars of the community in the Broadford-Raheenagh-Ballyduhig area. I know them very well.”
Fianna Fáil TD Niall Collins passed on his sympathies to the well-known farming family and said the area had been plunged into a deep sadness.
“It’s an awful tragedy for the family involved. I have been talking to a number of people in the local community and they are utterly shocked and devastated by what has happened,” Mr Collins said.