Take one raw chicken leg. Place a banger inside it. Light the fuse and retire. After an almighty bang there is skin, flesh and sinews everywhere. The effect is similar to what can happen if a banger goes off in a young child's hand.
Yesterday the Gardai gave what must rank as the most bizarre firework display ever. Det Garda Shane Henry of the ballistics section, protected by fire-proof overalls and eye-shields, lit bangers on plaster of Paris hands in order to show the potential effect on the fingers of young hands. The thumb and index fingers blow off.
He placed bangers in various parts of the chickens, and after a few jokes about Garda deafness claims sent skin and bones all over the forecourt of the Garda storage facilities at St John's Road in Dublin, some of the slimy remains landing on the smart uniforms of senior gardai nearby.
He then lit rockets that never rose from the ground, instead exploding at ground level with the potential to cause serious injury.
Staff Nurse Mary McDonald and Dr Stan Koe, from the accident and emergency unit at the National Children's Hospital in Tallaght, said they expected an increasing number of children arriving with injuries caused by fireworks between now and Halloween.
Nurse McDonald said the injuries were often to the thumb and usually to the dominant hand. Often the effects were permanent. Dr Koe said he had already treated a child who received facial injuries around the eye. The banger had exploded only a few feet from the face. Had it been closer an eye could have been lost.
The other injuries Nurse McDonald and Dr Koe dealt with included burns from bonfires. A child was in the accident and emergency unit last week with burns to his hand when hot melting plastic adhered to the skin.
Supt John Farrelly of the Garda press office said that two tonnes of fireworks were seized last year, including a container load worth £40,000.
Yesterday Supt Farrelly was putting the emphasis on the dangers rather than the legal implications. Fireworks such as the Black Cat bangers had a very unstable fuse. Some went off as soon as they were lit. Others might take 10 seconds or more. Rockets often exploded on the ground, and sparklers generated the same heat as an element on a cooker.
Parents had to take responsibility and resist pressure from children for money to buy fireworks. Gardai have warned that fireworks were a real danger. Every year Halloween fun ended in tragedy for a number of children, and some were maimed for life.