Child’s death from unsafe goalpost prompts funding boost for schools
The Department of Education is allocating €2,000 for each primary school and €4,000 for every second level school to help them renew physical education equipment.
But the priority for the funding is to address the health and safety issues in relation to goalposts in schools.
“The background is that there have been a number of injuries and fatalities in Ireland and Britain in recent years due to substandard or unsecured goalposts,” department officials have told schools in letters outlining the grant allocation.
In August 2004, a 10-year-old Limerick boy was killed when the goalposts being used in a summer soccer camp he was attending collapsed on him. A plastic target hanging from the crossbar was caught by a gust of wind, causing the goalpost to collapse on top of Andrew Fitzgerald from Kilmallock, Co Limerick.
In response to this and other tragic accidents involving goalposts, the National Standards Authority of Ireland is working on new standards for portable goalposts for soccer, gaelic games, rugby and other sports.
But draft standards on such equipment and 2004 standards for fixed goalposts have been notified to schools to ensure highest safety levels.
“The onus will be on school authorities to satisfy themselves, and keep adequate records, that any existing goalposts are safe and comply with these new safety standards,” the Department of Education has informed schools.
Schools have also been issued with an 11-point goalpost safety plan to help schools assess any required action, such as the replacement of goalposts, with recommendation that only new equipment meeting existing standards should be used.
The remainder of the grants are available for schools to buy new sports equipment for PE, with suitability for use by pupils to be a priority.
