Child hit by bus on O'Connell St

A four-year-old boy was admitted to hospital last night after being hit by a bus on O'Connell Street, Dublin.

The accident happened shortly before 7pm when the boy was knocked down by a bus heading northwards up the main street, close to the Spire. The boy was walking with his mother from the Henry Street direction and is understood to have run off the footpath and to have collided with the side of the bus.

Gardaí and the fire brigade were quickly on the scene. A nurse who was nearby treated the boy, thought to be from Nigeria, until an ambulance arrived. He was accompanied to Temple Street hospital by his mother and brother.

He is understood to be stable.

Gardaí took statements from passengers on the bus and from passersby and are investigating.

Last September, a woman died when she was hit by a bus at the same pedestrian crossing on O'Connell Street. She stepped out on the road from the North Earl Street side, close to the Spire, and was knocked down. She suffered head injuries and died a week later in St James's Hospital.

The accident triggered an investigation by Dublin City Council into the design of the crossing. The footpath is dished and the road raised to the same level as the footpath, giving a "boulevard effect". Since the fatality, the council has added arrows and eye-shaped marks to the footpath's edge, guiding people to look in the appropriate direction for oncoming traffic before crossing.