A Donegal child whose speech and language may have been delayed as a result of trauma suffered when the car in which he was traveling was rear-ended has been awarded €35,000.
The child and his father appeared at Donegal Circuit Court earlier this week for the consideration of an offer of compensation in the case.
The family were represented by barrister Simon Gillespie BL who was acting on behalf of Dublin-based barrister, Hugh O’Donnell, BL.
The court heard the accident happened in the Lettermacaward area on June 9th, 2018.
The injured party was an infant aged one and a half at the time and was a restrained back seat passenger in a baby-seat.
After the crash the child had a redness to his ear and was also clinging to his mother.
However, the real damage was psychological injuries suffered in that the child had a reluctance to travel and the biggest issue was a delay in his speech and language.
An examination of the child in 2021, three years after the accident, showed that he had recovered form many of the issues he had been suffering from including sleep disturbance as well as emotional and behavioural problems had now been resolved.
However, a follow-up examination focusing on the cause of the child’s delayed speech and language issue, it was concluded that there are many reasons for mild language delay and that it was not possible to attribute this to accident.
Barrister Mr Gillespie said that his colleague Mr O’Donnell was recommending the offer as he felt it was a very good offer as there was a risk of causation in relation to the speech and language delay element to the case.
Judge John Aylmer agreed saying it was a “very reasonable offer.”
