Department was warned last year that some goalposts on school sports fields were a danger to children.
The Department of Education was warned last year that goalposts being used on school sports fields posed a danger to children.
In the last year, two 10-year-old boys have been killed in accidents involving collapsing goalposts.
The Department of Education confirmed last night that it had been warned in a report from the State Claims Agency about the dangers of goalposts following an investigation carried out in a number of comprehensive and community schools around the country.
A Department of Education spokeswoman said that while the report from the State Claims Agency had been given to comprehensive and community schools, it had not been circulated to all schools.
Following the death of 10-year-old Andrew Fitzgerald from Limerick last week, the Department of Education said that it was now considering making the State Claims Agency report available to all schools.
Last September another 10-year-old boy, Lee Lucchesi, died on a football pitch in Navan, Co Meath, after goalposts collapsed on him causing head injuries.
According to a report published in the Sunday Independent yesterday, the State Claims Agency warned the Department of Education in May 2003 that "many of the goal frames used in Ireland are unsafe because they are improperly designed, manufactured or installed, and are either unanchored, incorrectly anchored or counterbalanced".
The State Claims Agency carried out its assessment of goalposts as part of its remit to minimise risk in comprehensive and community schools. Following its assessment of goalposts on soccer, GAA, rugby and hockey pitches, it found that "nearly all the goal frames were made locally and to no particular standard".
According to yesterday's reports the agency found:
in 30 per cent of the goals examined, the elements of the frames were not secured together;
43 per cent used material that was too heavy;
30 per cent were not installed in ground sockets.
Last night, Fine Gael's education spokeswoman Ms Olwyn Enright criticised the Department of Education over its failure to circulate the State Claims Agency report to all schools.
She said the Department had been "morally bound" to pass on the warnings about the dangers that goalposts posed to children.
Ms Enright said that at the very least the Department should have commissioned its own report into the dangers of goalposts in schools in general.
A Department of Education spokeswoman said the report had only been circulated to comprehensive and community schools as it only related to comprehensive and community schools.
The Football Association of Ireland has withdrawn the use of a target net used in soccer camps following the death of Andrew Fitzgerald last Thursday. Andrew had been taking part in a penalty shoot-out at a soccer camp at Holycross soccer club at Grange, near Bruff, Co Limerick, when a goalpost collapsed.
An FAI-approved target net had been fixed to a portable goal when it was caught by a gust of wind, overturning the post which hit the boy on the head.
