THE tragic death of 25 year old Ms Marese Egan in the fairground accident in Borrisokane, Co Tipperary, has raised fundamental concerns about the standards of safety in amusement parks and funfairs in the State.
Just last month, the Consumer Association of Ireland expressed disquiet when it carried out a survey on the state of eight of the nation's fairgrounds. The association called for improved safety standards finding that none of the fairgrounds was "very good" in overall safety, and just three were "good".
Three others were "poor" and one was "very poor". Equipment compared badly with fairgrounds in other countries and the association found in one park that the chair o plane ride was too fast.
An investigation is being carried out by gardai into the circumstances of Sunday's tragedy in which Ms Egan's four year old daughter, Samantha, was seriously injured.
The Health and Safety Authority will conduct its own inquiry to establish if a prosecution against the fairground operator, will be brought in the incident.
The authority has responsibility for the administration and enforcement of the occupational safety and health system and charges to be brought would be done so under section seven of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act, 1989.
It states that "it shall be the duty of every employer (and self employed person) to conduct his undertakings in such a way as to ensure so far as is reasonably practicable, that persons not in his employment, who may be affected thereby, are not exposed to risks their safety or health."
The Consumer Association's call for better standards was echoed by a former Minister for the Environment and local TD, Mr Michael Smith. "As we build up the tourism industry and develop sports more and more emphasis will have to be placed on safety," he said. He demanded a safety review which would look at fairgrounds and amusement parks, but would also be widened to include sport leisure and the marine. That, he said, would come under the auspices of the Department of Education and within that the sports ministry.
