Belfast's Royal Victoria Hospital today issued a pre-Halloween plea for people to stay away from fireworks.
The hospital eye department has carried out a 12 year study of eye injuries caused by fireworks, particularly in young people under the age of 20.
The research covered six years before and six years after the lifting of the firework ban in the North in 1996, and the hospital said it underpinned
the need to maintain strict controls on fireworks and the need to take suitable precautions if near them.
"After the lifting of the ban there was almost a three fold increase in serious eye injuries at the Royal in comparison to when the ban was in place," said Dr Angela Knox, specialist registrar in ophthalmology and one of the research team.
While the ban was back in place, the hospital said it was the fireworks obtained without a licence that continued to cause injury. And they said they were likely to be more dangerous than legal fireworks.
"Fireworks obtained without a licence are unlikely to have passed strict safety standards and may contain little or not instructions for use and are more likely to misfire," said the Royal.
In the lead up to Halloween it was important to stay clear of fireworks, said Dr Knox. "The majority of injuries from fireworks occur when they are mishandled, explode prematurely or are used as missiles," she added.