The 23-month-old victim, Sarah Kate Frost, of Williamstown Village, Waterford, was attending her cousin's first communion party on Saturday afternoon and was playing in the garden when the tragedy occurred at around 5pm.

It is believed that a number of adults unsuccessfully tried to resuscitate the toddler after they noticed she had fallen into the ornamental pond, which is reported to have been only about a foot deep.

Sarah Kate was removed to Waterford Regional Hospital where a full postmortem examination was carried out.

Hundreds of mourners attended yesterday's funeral mass, which took place in Waterford, and Sarah Kate was later buried at Craughan Cemetery in Cratloe, where the toddler's heartbroken father Michael and the Frost family are very well-known and respected.

Sarah Kate's mother Aine, who is from the Nenagh area, and Michael have been living in Waterford for a number of years, where Michael is a car salesman with Tom Murphy Motors.

Sarah Kate was the youngest of the Frosts' three children. She is survived by her brother Robert and sister Julianna.

At funeral mass at St Joseph's and Benildus Church in Waterford, Fr Paul Murphy he knew Sarah would have been a priest as the toddler, who was just shy of her second birthday, had always been fond of delivering "her own sermon" while at Sunday Mass.

In a heart-breaking tribute to Sarah Kate in her funeral notice, her family said: "You belong to us little Sarah but God wanted you too. So now you are in Heaven with all the little angels. You are so loved by Daddy, Mummy, Robert and Julianna and everybody else whose lives you've touched in such a special way".