Six-thousand-pounds win for six-year-old against Lidl.

By Meghna Mukerjee

Six-year-old Tadhg Mooney from County Dublin has won a case against Lidl and been given £6000 as settlement money.

The boy from Balbriggan in County Dublin was wrongly accused of stealing a bag of crisps from the local branch of Lidl in June last year. An assistant had grabbed his hand and made the accusation.

The Irish Times had reported this incident. It was said that the occurrence had caused injury to the boy's reputation. It had also distressed and caused him inconvenience.

The child's mother, Rachel, went to Dermot McNamara & Company Solicitors for legal advice. Speaking to The Fresh Outlook, Mr Dermot McNamara says, ''Tadhg Mooney's mother went to the store manager after the incident took place but he didn’t do anything about it to her satisfaction. So she came to us. We then asked Lidl for an apology and settlement.''

Mr McNamara says Lidl Ireland Ltd. was fast to respond to the issue. ''After a period of negotiation the settlement was reached at 7500 Euros. It was a straight forward case and this was the next step,'' he adds.

The Circuit Civil Court was recommended by the solicitors to agree to the settlement. ''With any case that involves a minor, the court has to be informed and their approval is needed. The money will be lodged with the court till Tadhg Mooney turns 18. The child's mother has said that then the money will be used for his education,'' informs Mr McNamara.

When Lidl was contacted, they said they had 'no comment to make on this issue'.

Prior to this incident, Lidl was caught in controversy in 2008 as well, as some of their workers in Swedish stores had purposely poured washing-up liquid into garbage bins so that homeless people could not look through them for scraps of food. The German discount supermarket chain was pressured to make an apology.