Professor John Ryan:

There is that false realisation that it will protect the brain but that is not the case. It is the scalp that is being protected, not the brain. The need for improvement in this area and greater awareness at pitch side is necessary. We must realise that the majority of people getting head injuries in sport occur among a group of weekend warriors and school children for which this country does not have the capacity to provide a medic or even a paramedic or an allied health carer. We need to drill down that education to coach and parental levels. That is certainly the case in the sport of rugby.

A Deputy mentioned that Scotland has produced leaflets. The work done under the SAFE Rugby programme by the IRFU is fantastic. They have gone out to the clubs and schools. I know that even this year one school had 45 members of its coaching and teaching staff attend a weekend course on the management of pitch side injuries, including concussion. That has made a difference particularly during the past 18 months. As a consequence of that we have seen in our emergency department a greater awareness by parents in terms of the people presenting with those injuries needing to be assessed. We are seeing that but more needs to be done. We are aware of the legislation around child abuse, the need for Garda clearance and so on, and rightly so, and perhaps the legislative route is a way to make sure that parents and those coaches who are involved are up to date with, as Deputy Neville said, the-----