COMMENT: Compo culture is hurting our children

LAST week, as I flicked through my Facebook newsfeed in an effort to find stories unrelated to the Maria Bailey ‘Swing-gate’ controversy, I spotted a post from the Fingal Adventure Centre.

It stated: “It’s with a very heavy heart we have to announce that we will not be operating on North Beach this season. The astronomical insurance we have been quoted leaves us no choice but to cease operating on North Beach. Thank you to a great community and for all your support.”

The beach in question is in Rush, North County Dublin, a five-minute walk from where I live. The centre, which still has a branch in Malahide, previously operated from a former lifeguard hut on the beach, offering an array of water-based activities, such as paddle-boarding and kayaking.

The centre has an excellent reputation, with highly trained instructors and quality equipment. It offers one-to-one tuition and summer camps for children.

Not all kids are into team sports, so it was great for parents to have some alternatives as the school holidays loomed large. Besides, it was good to see our local beach being used as a watersports centre as it had the potential to bring more visitors to the area, which would have benefitted the business community.

As most parents know, it can be hard to get kids away from their phones, tablets and gaming consoles. The adventure centre offered our youngsters a healthier option. Perhaps it would introduce them to an exciting new hobby where they would forge new friendships and have some really positive life experiences. 

We live in an age where we are more tuned in to issues such as obesity and the need to promote good mental health. Activities such as kayaking or sailing are simply amazing for the body and mind.

If the adventure centre had been closing the branch due to a downturn in business, it would simply have been disappointing. But the fact that it is due to prohibitive insurance costs is nothing short of scandalous. 

In the same week, a well-known fun park in Lucan was removing its popular trampolines to reduce the risk of insurance claims.

Around the country, many indoor play centres are facing closure due to eye-watering insurance premium quotes. Some parents are happy enough to treat these places like an inflatable babysitting service, watching their kids from the comfort of the coffee shop. Then they sue when their little one falls and ends up with a bloody nose or soft tissue injury (a term that sounds ridiculously vague).

And here’s some breaking news for them: kids fall – it’s what they do best. They are very, very good at it. 

If you need to distract them for a few hours and find a cure for parental cabin fever, these places are a godsend. Accidents will happen, of course. Sometimes the injuries will be minor and they will not always be the result of negligence.

Until such a time that the Government addresses the issue of compensation claims and sky-high insurance premiums, it’s up to the citizens of this country to exercise common sense and at least accept some degree of personal responsibility.