The father of a 14-year-old girl who was hit in the eye by a firework on Halloween has appealed for witnesses to come forward and for fireworks to be “banned across Ireland”.
Patrick McKeown, from Moycullen, Co Galway, said his daughter Lauren was meeting friends on Halloween night when she was hit “full force into her eye by a firework”.
“It wasn’t a formal event, the kids were meeting up at the local soccer pitch . . . About a hundred teenagers just hanging about for Halloween,” he said.
His daughter and her friend were walking on the footpath when a firework went off behind her. “She turned and that’s when she got it full force into her eye,” he said.
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A man who was walking by called her parents, while her friend called an ambulance.
“Her friends were screaming. My daughter believes she passed out for a period of time. The ambulance brought her to hospital and we arrived there to meet with the eye doctor,” Mr McKeown said.
Doctors couldn’t see into Lauren’s eye at first because it was “too traumatised, there was too much blood”.
“They checked her the following day and still couldn’t give her any indication because of the amount of blood that had pooled,” he said.
On Monday, consultants were able to carry out scans and the news was that “the healing is taking place”.
“There is damage to the eye, but they were positive overall. They don’t know if it will be 100 per cent sight back, but they’re confident she’ll be able to function,” Mr McKeown said.
Lauren, a Junior Cycle student in Salthill, is “coping well” given the circumstances but her father is appealing for witnesses to come forward to ensure someone is “held accountable”.
“She’s a strong kid. She’s having little ups and downs which is normal, but she’s mentally very strong and people have been very supportive,” he said.
“We’re sickened by it. You don’t expect it to happen to your child . . . It’s the not knowing, and somebody taking something from her.”
Parents needed to talk to their children about the dangers of fireworks, Mr McKeown added. “This wasn’t fun, there’s no fun in this. It has massive consequences. It really needs to be drilled home and the only people that’ll be able to do that is their parents”.
Gardaí in Salthill are appealing for witnesses. In a statement, gardaí said they were called to Millars Lane, Rahoon/Knocknacarra, where the teenage girl had sustained an injury to her eye.
Investigations are ongoing and gardaí are appealing for anyone who was at the playing pitches or Millars Lane area between 7pm and 8pm and may have witnessed this incident – including those who may have camera footage – to contact Salthill-Bóthar na Trá Garda station on 091 514720, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111 or any Garda station.
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