A judge has approved a €15,000 settlement offer to a child, who at 22 months old was at the centre of Garda and Tusla inquiries into alleged assaults at a creche.Barrister Conor Kearney told Judge Paula Murphy in the Circuit Civil Court on Thursday that the child, who is now four, had, according to her mother, been pushed, hit and physically abused on various dates during April 2024.Kearney, who appeared with Aisling Woods of Michael Kelleher solicitors, said the child, through her mother, had sued the south Dublin creche.“While there is little doubt that something did occur at the creche, a full defence has been delivered and a ‘without prejudice’ offer of €15,000 and costs has been made by the defendant,” Kearney said.He told the judge there was only one medical report from Dr Michael Barrett of Crumlin children’s hospital, where the child had been treated a few days after her mother had been informed of an incident involving one of the members of the creche staff.“[She] received a general check-up and the only visible injury was some bruising to her shins but it is unclear whether this was caused by the incident or not,” Kearney said.He said obviously her mother had been very concerned about the matter and she had informed Tusla and An Garda Síochána, which was conducting its own criminal investigation that would have to take its normal course. The creche had also informed the authorities.Kearney said it appeared there may be some CCTV footage of an assault that took place in the garden of the creche but there was no CCTV footage available from inside the creche. The assault itself appeared not to have left any physical marks. The child’s mother stated in written evidence that on various dates during the month of April 2024 one of the creche employees had assaulted her daughter by pushing and hitting her and being physically abusive towards her. She understood gardaí had CCTV footage of the employee being rough and abusive.Recommending acceptance of the consortium’s €15,000 offer, Kearney told the judge there was no proof apart from second-hand knowledge obtained by the mother that something had occurred. Whether or not criminal proceedings would arise was a separate matter.Murphy said that while the incident would have been stressful to the child the only evidence that the court could look at was the medical report of Barrett, whose examination revealed simple bruising of the shins consistent with normal activity for a child nearly two years old.The judge, saying that criminal proceedings were a matter for the Garda, approved the offer together with Circuit Court costs.