‘You can’t use compo for Disney trip’

A JUDGE yesterday refused to approve the release of €2,000 from a €10,000 compensation payment to send a six-yearold boy and his six siblings on a holiday to Disneyland.

The wait to see Mickey Mouse in the flesh will continue for schoolboy John McDonagh Jr and his siblings after Judge Patrick Durcan refused to sanction the release of the funds at Ennis District Court.

In the case, Judge Durcan approved a €10,000 compensation payment to six yearold John Jr, of Droim Chaoin, Bishop O’Donnell Road, Galway.

The boy, through his mother Margaret McDonagh, was suing Niall Seery, of Davitt Terrace, Cloughleigh, Ennis, Co Clarem as a result of Mr Seery knocking John Jr off his go-kart on Childers Road, Cloughleigh, Ennis, on August 7, 2015.

John Jr was four at the time of the accident. Counsel for the McDonaghs, Rebecca May Treacy, BL, told the court that John ‘fell from the go-kart upon being hit by the vehicle’. He sustained minor head and chest injuries, including grazes to his chest.

The €10,000 is to be held on trust until John Jr turns 18. However, Ms Treacy said that Mrs McDonagh wanted to apply to the court for the release of €2,000 of the €10,000 as she wants to bring John Jr, herself and his six siblings on a holiday to Disneyland.

In response, Judge Durcan said: ‘I am not going to approve that. I don’t think that is appropriate. Certainly a holiday to Disneyland for his siblings and himself would be a very pleasurable thing, but it is not, in my view, in the interests of the little boy.’

Judge Durcan said that he would approve the release of a small payment of €200 for the boy.