The girl left with serious burns after she stepped on a discarded barbecue while playing on a beach, has been transferred to the burns unit at Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin.

The GP treating Zahra Murray advised her parents to take her to the hospital after it appeared her wounds had become infected.

Zahra (5) suffered second and third-degree burns after accidentally stepping into a disposable barbecue buried in the sand in Brittas Bay. Such injuries are prone to infection.

"We were hoping to keep her out of hospital, to keep her away from infection. But we were advised this morning to bring her to Crumlin," her father Raymond Murray told the Herald.

"All I know is that such burns are prone to infection and that she now needs specialised treatment," he added.

A number of consultants, including plastic surgeons, spent time with the little girl yesterday as they decided on the best course of treatment. Her parents have been told that she may need skin grafts.

The incident prompted Zahra's shocked father to contact RTE's Liveline to warn parents of the dangerous practice of disposable barbecues being left on the beach.

Mum Selina Kavanagh had brought their two children, Zahra and Dylan (7), to the beach on Sunday afternoon.

Screaming

"The beach was packed. We noticed that a number of people had these disposable barbecues on the beach. My kids were just playing on the beach along with their friends," Selina said.

"The next minute, my little girl came running down to me saying her foot was sore. It didn't look like much at first, but soon she was screaming with the pain.

"She was hysterical. I didn't know what it was at first. But later, the kids told me she stepped into a barbecue which had been covered by sand.

"I was trying to get her to a doctor. She was in so much pain. But it took me an hour and a half to get to Arklow -- normally it's just a few minutes. People were doubled parked and it was traffic gridlock."

Raymond has contacted Wicklow County Council about the incident. "I know it's not their fault that a barbecue was buried in the sand but there's not one bin in the place. It's absolutely filthy, there are no bins, no signs, no anything," Raymond said.

In a statement, Wicklow County Council reiterated that the use of disposable barbecues on the beach is illegal.

"Patrols and beach cleaning are carried out regularly but, unfortunately, this one-off incident is as a result of the irresponsible nature of a minority of users of the beach," said the council.

- Jane Last