So... kids are allowed to run in the school grounds again, yeah?

Kildare Place National School on the Upr Rathmines Rd definitely banned running around for a few years, it could still be banned for all I know. They were terrified of the compo culture, a lot of well heeled parents send their kids there.

I know first hand of an incident about 15 years ago where the nephew of a former Attorney General fell off a windowsill, (one which he was repeatedly warned not to get up on), and the school literally begged the parents not to sue. The parents made the school accept responsibility in writing in case they wished to sue in the future. interestingly a number of children were told by these parents to make statements on the issue. This was done without the permission of the parents of the children which in itself breaches all sorts of laws.

The fact that kids aren't allowed to run freely in schools is mindless and retarded imo, the government could easily bring in legislation to stop this kind of crap, or indeed a lot of the compo culture that exists in this country, but they never will; reason: the Minister for justice is essentially always a solicitor or barrister and he would be cutting off the milk and honey tap for a lot of his/her mates.

Ironically enough this morning on the radio there was some guy on about rising obesity in 9 year olds and how the government is going to tackle this. Letting them run around in the fresh air might be a start.

who the fug wrote: »

Bet he was the uber cool bloke next day with all them scabs

I remember he was missing for a few days but when he came back, his scars didn't look cool. He looked like he had leprosy on his face.

Robbo wrote: »

It's callowness on the part of the insurance companies for settling all of these matters rather than properly fighting them. I'm open to correction if there's something more recent, but I believe the judgment in Flynn -v- O'Reilly is still instructive here:



I really am curious as to the origins of these urban myths which grow traction. Whilst I am aware that there were a large number of claims in the pre-PIAB era, most of these were settled rather cheaply by lazy insurers who were too quick to pay out but then moaned to the consumer that the premium had to go up for this very reason.

Quoted for truth.

Insurance companies are mostly at fault here. Pretty much no judge is going to find a school in the wrong in any of these cases. Schools have insurance against being sued however, and the insurance company will usually decide that it's easier for them to throw the parents a few grand and raise premiums rather than go through the long and costly court process. This payout to the parents is what gets reported to the press.

I guess it isn't just insurance companies that are the problem. I blame:
- insurance companies
- expensive legal system
- greedy/stupid parents

I remember trip bulldog being banned, but "normal" bulldog being okay back in the nineties...

Also, there are three primary schools next ot each other (used to be a boys and girls and one other), and there was a rule banning people going from one playground to another. So some people would do a lap of all three schoolyards.

Rules regarding schoolyards were seen as something to break at the time... :pac:

I went to one primary school where running was banned.

Then another where football was encouraged during lunch hour.

The end walls of the yard were divided up into about 8 sets of goals, immediately next to each other. You'd have 8 matches running in parallel on the same slab of concrete.

It was a bit mad but strangely the only injury that seemed to happen a lot was people getting hit in the face by the ball. For some mad reason they tried to prevent this by banning size 5 footballs so we ended up with these tiny, hard plastic toddlers mini-footballs that would cave your face in if you got hit. I think by the time I left they had switched to using lightweight beach-ball type things.

All this on a day when a report is released showing that a quater of all nine year olds are a bunch of chubsters and future heart attacks just waiting to happen:

http://www.independent.ie/health/health-news/fat-nation-study-finds-a-quarter-of-irish-nineyearold-children-are-overweight-2929432.html

It kind of makes you wonder which is the more dangerous activity, running or sitting on your (lardy) arse......

Robbo wrote: »

I hope to god you all did the decent thing and yelled "Unclean! Unclean!" at him whenever the bell rang.

God, I've just realised what an opportunity I've missed. I never liked the little shít either so it would have been all the more satisfying.

Robbo wrote: »

It's callowness on the part of the insurance companies for settling all of these matters rather than properly fighting them.

I really am curious as to the origins of these urban myths which grow traction. Whilst I am aware that there were a large number of claims in the pre-PIAB era, most of these were settled rather cheaply by lazy insurers who were too quick to pay out but then moaned to the consumer that the premium had to go up for this very reason.

Being from an insurance background I can only somewhat agree. At the end of the day they are going to take the most cost effective option as they see it. Having said that, if they were to fight them it would probably end up being more expensive in the short term, but very cost effective in the long term as compo culture would take a hit for the better. Insurers would then be probably criticised for wriggling their way out of paying claims. Pre-PIAB, too young to remember I'm afraid.

bijapos wrote: »

The fact that kids aren't allowed to run freely in schools is mindless and retarded imo, the government could easily bring in legislation to stop this kind of crap, or indeed a lot of the compo culture that exists in this country, but they never will; reason: the Minister for justice is essentially always a solicitor or barrister and he would be cutting off the milk and honey tap for a lot of his/her mates.

Compensation culture is a disgrace in this country. It's a societal problem to the point that some of the people condemning politicians, bankers et al. are the very ones who see nothing wrong with compensation for nothing. The legal profession have a lot to answer for. Those lawyers4u type ads make me sick and the "no win, no fee" thing.

Interesting point about government's reason for not bringing in legislation.

frisbeeface wrote: »

Insurance companies are mostly at fault here. Pretty much no judge is going to find a school in the wrong in any of these cases. Schools have insurance against being sued however, and the insurance company will usually decide that it's easier for them to throw the parents a few grand and raise premiums rather than go through the long and costly court process. This payout to the parents is what gets reported to the press.

I guess it isn't just insurance companies that are the problem. I blame:
- insurance companies
- expensive legal system
- greedy/stupid parents

I agree to a point, but take the view that the very ones who started this whole culture were not the insurance companies. However, I would question their whole lets just pay a few grand and nip it in the bud approach in the early days. I know I'm somewhat biased due to my background, having intimate knowledge of the industry and all that, but there is no getting away from the fact that greedy parents/individuals are at the core of the problem along with the legal profession.