Call for Brookville brook to be piped after boy (2) saved from drowning
AFTER snatching her unconscious twoyear-old son out of the brook at Drogheda’s Brookville Park estate, an angry young mother hit out this week at the Corporation for its failure to eliminate the danger.
“Since my son Alan fell into the brook on Thursday morning, every mother in the area is fearful for their children’s safety.” said Mrs. Maisie Smith. “Surely there is something that Drogheda Corporation could do to help us or must they wait until a child is actually drowned?”
It was at 12.30 p.m. on Thursday that Mrs. Smith’s elder son, 3-year-old Ian, ran in to their kitchen at 121 Brookville Park, to tell her that his little brother was ‘” in the water.”
She ran first to the brook, her screams atracting the attention of neighbours and saw the boy floating, his nose and mouth .submerged in the water.
“He had on his little brown and white anorak, and I think it was this which kept him afloat. The hood was still on him and his hands were up in the sleeves.” Clambering waist deep into the brook, she clutched the child and threw him onto the bank.
Luckily a neighbour, Mrs. Jean Smith, had been taught artificial respiration by her husband and she soon had the child conscious again aided by Mrs. Anne McCabe, Mrs. McQuillan and Mrs. Doherty. Another neighbour, Mrs. Alice O’Neill, drove Alan to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, where he was kept until Tuesday, suffering from pneumonia.
Mrs. Smith recalled that, some years ago another little child from the estate fell into the brook and. like Alan, escaped drowning by a matter of seconds. The brook, she believes is a source of very real danger and Drogheda Corporation should act immediately on the matter. “Surely they could fence it off. pipe it, or bulldoze the high banks which surround it, into it. “We are afraid for our children, but we can’t keep them locked in our houses all day. We must allow them out to play. As things are, the street, with all its traffic is a safer place for them than our back gardens, with their nearness to the brook.” This week. Mrs. Smith’s husband. Christy, intends calling on the Corporation to demand action in wiping out the hazard.
At the February meeting of Drogheda Corporation members were told that the brook, which residents alleged was polluted and rat-infested, was to be piped. They welcomed the news then but protested against the fact that the whole of the stream was not to be piped. They agreed to .press the Department, of Local .Government to allow them to complete the job.