Girl (5) who fell and split her lip outside school awarded €52,000

A judge has approved a €52,000 assessment by the Injuries Resolution Board for a five-year-old schoolgirl who split her upper lip in a fall outside her Sacred Heart National School, Clondalkin, Co Dublin.

Barrister Anne Marie O’Mahony told Judge Geoffrey Shannon in the Circuit Civil Court that liability had been accepted by the local authority, South Dublin County Council.

O’Mahony, who appeared with Anthea Padilla of Wayne Kenny Solicitors, said that Lilly Blu Connolly, now aged 10, had fallen on a damaged concrete path after alighting from her grandmother’s car at the school in April 2022.

Counsel for Lilly Blu Connolly, who sued both defendants through her mother Nicole Connolly of Parkview Lawns, Clondalkin, told the court the child had been rushed to Tallaght Hospital where the laceration to her lip had been cleaned and closed with steri-strips.

Lilly Blu Connolly had been taken to Crumlin Children’s Hospital the following day where, during surgery under general anaesthesia, her wound had been sutured with dissolvable stitches.

The judge heard that consultant plastic surgeon Catherine de Blacam reported that a 25mm permanent scar, which was visible on close inspection but not from a conversational distance on Lilly Blu Connolly’s lip, would grow with her but required no further treatment at this stage.

De Blacam, in written evidence, said the girl and her mother had been diligent with wound care and scar management, keeping it well moisturised and protected from the sun.

Lilly Blu Connolly’s mother Nicole told the court her daughter was good at everything she does and is involved in singing, dancing and stage school.

The judge, who was told cosmetic procedures might help Lilly Blu Connolly in later years, wished her “all the best in the future” and approved an Injuries Resolution Board assessment of €40,000 for the scar with an uplift of €10,000 for general damages and €2,000 expenses and Circuit Court costs.