Man awarded €20,000 damages after he was scalded with gravy at GAA club

Ray Managh

A Dublin man who is currently in prison has been awarded €20,000 damages for personal injuries against a GAA club.

Barrister John Nolan told the Circuit Civil Court that Craig McDonnell, “currently a guest of the nation,” had been scalded by a gravy spill while he worked as a trainee kitchen porter at Parnell GAA Club in Coolock, Dublin.

Judge Terence O’Sullivan heard that McDonnell had been participating as a Youth Reach Worker in a work placement scheme with Parnells and on the date of the accident he had been manning the gravy station at the club’s lunch carvery.

Mr Nolan, who appeared with Tracey Solicitors, said it had been his client’s job to pour gravy onto the plates of customers after they had been served their food. In the April 2014 incident, scalding gravy had been accidentally poured onto his left arm by another worker.

Mr McDonnell, who has an address at Longdale Terrace, Ballymun, Dublin, was accompanied in court by a prison escort. In his evidence he said he had been manning the gravy station and when a customer returned with his plate looking for more gravy, a commis chef had reached in front of and across him to add the extra gravy.

As he did so, very hot gravy from the commis chef’s ladle had poured onto his left arm scalding him. Shortly afterwards, he had been brought to the emergency department of Beaumont Hospital where his wound was dressed.

Mc Donnell also sued two youth training agencies as well as Parnell GAA club, but the case against each of them was dismissed by Judge O’Sullivan who awarded damages against Parnell GAA club only. The judge refused to make an order for legal costs on behalf of the two successful youth agencies against Parnells.

He said he believed Mr Mc Donnell was being honest in his evidence and not telling a lie. He had been adamant about what and how the accident had happened.

Judge O’Sullivan said he did not think there had been any contributory negligence on the part of the then teenage Mc Donnell.

“He suffered first degree burns and while they are not the worst type of burns they were a lot worse than people at first associate with burn injuries,” Judge O’Sullivan said. “He did not get treated right away and had to be taken to hospital. His injury had been sore for a number of weeks afterwards and he has been left with a permanent scar which is not small.”