Toddler hurt at creche due to alleged staff negligence awarded €10k

Court heard there had been three incidents over a period of eight months when child had suffered injury

The settlement offer had been made on the basis of no liability being accepted on the part of the creche or its staff.

A judge has approved a settlement offer to a child who was injured in a creche allegedly due to the negligence of supervising staff.

Barrister Ciaran Mandal told Judge Terence O’Sullivan in the Circuit Civil Court on Monday that there had been three incidents over a period of eight months in 2015 when two-year-old Ben Kirwan had been found to have suffered injury.

Mr Mandal, who appeared with Coleman Legal Partners, told the court that Davencrest Limited, Grosvenor Road, Dublin 6, had made an offer of €10,000 to Ben, which he was recommending on the basis there may be liability difficulties for the child.

The settlement offer had been made on the basis of no liability being accepted on the part of the creche or its staff.

He said Ben, of Prospect Drive, Stocking Lane, Rathfarnham, Dublin 16, had attended the Kins Inc creche on Ballygowan Road, Rathfarnham, and when collected by his mother, Tara Walsh, on January 26, 2015, she had found him upset and bleeding from his mouth.

Judge O’Sullivan heard there was no evidence on what may have happened to him on this occasion or if it had anything to do with any alleged lack of care.

Mr Mandal said there had been two other incidents when Ben had fallen and struck a table in February 2015 and a shelf in August 2015.

In both cases, he had been treated by his GP or at Tallaght Hospital.

Judge O’Sullivan, approving the €10,000 offer, said he thought it a good result considering the perceived difficulties that might arise for the boy on liability.