The Labour Party has paid more than £6,000 in compensation to a child injured during the 1994 election campaign by a poster which was blown off a lamp-post.
Mr Barry Halton, counsel for 13-year-old Joseph Byrne, told the Circuit Civil Court that the boy, from Seville Place, Dublin, was six when he was "upended" by a poster of Euro candidates Ms Bernie Malone and Ms Orla Guerin on June 9th, 1994, as he walked with his father across Seville Place.
He told the Circuit Court President, Mr Justice Smyth, that Joseph was taken by his father to Temple Street Children's Hospital. Examination had revealed bruising across Joseph's right thigh. He had recovered and the Labour Party, which erected the poster, had lodged £6,117 in court to meet the boy's claim for damages and medical expenses.
Mr Justice Smyth approved acceptance of the lodgment and ordered that it be paid into court for Joseph's benefit on his 18th birthday.