A judge has approved a €25,000 settlement for an 11-year-old girl who injured her forehead and lip when she fell at a Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council play park.
Barrister Conor Kearney told Judge Jennifer O’Brien in the Circuit Civil Court that Amelia Hodgins, when aged seven, was allowed to play in a part of the park that was not fully completed and should have been sealed-off from children.
Mr Kearney, who appeared with Tiernan Solicitors, said Amelia tripped and injured her forehead and lip when running down an embankment in Fernhill Park Playground, Sandyford. Judge O’Brien heard Amelia, of Blackthorn Court, Sandyford, hit her face off a rock when she fell.
Amelia sued the council through her father, John Hodgins, who told the court in an affidavit that he had been advised that the area where Amelia fell should not have been open to the public in February 2021.
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Mr Kearney said Amelia suffered grazes to her face and was left with minor scarring which, on examination, Judge O’Brien said could barely be noticed.
Approving the settlement award from the council, the judge said the court was happy to accept the offer as appropriate in the circumstances.
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