Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)

The question was about the number sent home due to sports injuries. Can we overdo the health and safety aspect? Deputy Aylward would be very much aware of a serious enough injury to one of the Kilkenny players in last Sunday's league final. Should we ban hurling because we have occasional injuries? Are we overdoing it here? People in the Army are physically fit and they want to indulge in contact sports.

The Minister is not providing evidence that there was a great number of injuries. As far as I am aware, only one such injury has been recorded. Is this sufficient reason to deny physical contact sports to our troops to whom, I believe, sport is important in terms of morale?

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