The boy suffered extensive skull fractures as a result of the fall.
A boy who fell 15ft through a gap in a handrail when he was a toddler has settled his High Court action for €750,000.
Brian Dunne, now 16, suffered extensive skull fracturing after falling through the gap and onto a tiled floor at a doctor’s surgery on January 15, 2007.
The then-two-and-a-half-year-old, from Clonmore, Edenderry, Co. Offaly, had been waiting for a medical appointment with his mother on the first floor of Lowell House on Herbert Avenue, Dublin.
He approached the handrail and fell through what was claimed to be a six inch opening, the Independent reports.
He was taken to Crumlin Children’s Hospital and put on ventilation. They later transferred him to Beaumont Hospital, where he was found to have extensive skull fractures.
Counsel argued that though the boy had made a remarkable recovery and currently plays football for his local club, he remains at some increased risk of epilepsy as a result of injuries sustained in the accident.
On her son’s behalf, the boy’s mother, Louise Dunne, sued the operators of the centre, Somerzkroft Ltd of Pembroke Road, Dublin as well as the architect who designed the building’s refurbishment, Joseph Kennedy of Clarinda Park, Dun Laoghaire.
It was claimed the defendants failed to adequately assess the safety of the handrail to prevent such accidents.
John Finlay SC also said the defendants blamed one another for the accident, but that there was no blame or negligence attached to the boy or his mother.
Justice Mirian O’Regan found the sum to be a suitable settlement.
