It is extraordinary with the culture of litigation in Ireland that the GAA continues to allow senior hurling players to avoid wearing helmets, a Co Kilkenny GP has said.
Dr Ronan Fawsitt, public relations officer for GPs in Kilkenny, revealed that eye specialists in Cork and Dublin had written to the GAA calling for mandatory helmets and visors and that the call was ignored.
"The surgeons told the GAA that in 2003, four players had lost an eye playing hurling yet nothing was done," he pointed out.
Dr Fawsitt provided further evidence of the dangers associated with hurling when he gave details of a survey carried out last summer at St Luke's Hospital, Kilkenny.
"There were 190 hurling injuries brought to casualty with 52 suffering head and neck injuries," he said.
Dr Fawsitt said that surgeons in St Luke's Hospital said a helmet or visor could have prevented a significant number of the injuries.
"These injuries have been a source of extra work for GPs and casualty departments in all hospitals every summer.
"In this day of litigation, it is extraordinary that the GAA continues to allow senior players to avoid wearing proper protection," he said. "This is not a good example for young children starting off in the sport, when their role models and heroes, will not practice what is sensible."
He said the GAA should listen to the message coming consistently from the medical profession, that wearing a helmet and visor prevented specific injury risks to hurlers, especially eye injuries.
"No matter how important sport is to us, nothing is worth the loss of vision especially when wearing a simple head protection could have prevented the injury," he said.
"Before this season is too much older, perhaps the GAA will take some protective action on behalf of its own," he added.