Dr. Padraig Sheeran:

One area that every Member has touched is the management of concussion in children. As a consultant in the children's hospital in Crumlin, my main area of concern is management of concussion or evolving brain injury and major injury in schools. Every parent wants to know that his or her child is as safe as he or she can be and parents want to know that their child has the right to suitable advice, equipment and medical support if something goes wrong. Currently, there are no national structures or guidelines in our schools. Concussion is difficult to detect in adults and because of differences in anatomy and physiology, it is even harder to detect in children. We have had initial meetings with Dr. Miriam Owens in the Department of Health and Mr. Seanie McGrath in the Department of Education and Skills to initiate protocols and guidelines which will have to be compulsorily placed in schools and if we can do this, we hope there will be a positive effect on children's GAA and mini-rugby on Saturdays and Sundays. If we can have firm guidelines in schools, they will, hopefully, have a knock-on effect in clubs and that will involve the sporting bodies.

We do not have to reinvent the wheel. For example, South Africa's guidelines - BokSmart - involve two people being consistently present to address playing field injuries and they are referees and school teachers.