A recent report in the Galway City Tribune has revealed that the city has paid over in excess of €4 million in personal injury claim compensation since the beginning of 2015.
The huge expenditure on insurance covers public areas, as well as paying the excess on all claims that are made.
The official figures, obtained by the newspaper through a Freedom of Information request show that the cost of public liability insurance for Galway City Council was €3.4 million over the same time period. Breaking the costs down year by year gives a figures for 2014 of €1.5 million, €1.4 million in 2015 and just less than €500,000 in 2016.
Along with to paying for insurance cover, Galway City Council also had to pay for the excess on personal injury claims. The figures for this excess amounted to €142,000 in 2016; €242,000 in 2015; and €205,000 in 2014.
A large proportion of the personal injury compensation claims are for injuries suffered in falls on the streets of the city.
As an effort to address this, it was revealed in August 2017 that the paving and cobbles on the Shop Street thoroughfare are to be replaced due to the number of people falling over and hurting themselves.
Galway City Council Representative said, at the time, that plans were in place to solve the uneven paving on the street which has been the subject of many compensation claims.
This comes on the back of a report, in March 2017 which highlighted the fact that more than €63 million was paid out in personal injury compensation by Dublin’s four local authorities in just five years.
Dublin City Council paid out the most – totaling €41,322,784.12 to 3,853 claimants from 2012 until 2016. At the time of the report a South Dublin County Council spokeswoman said: “The majority of cases in relation to public liability cases are trips, slips and falls on footpaths/roads, or in public parks. A small number of claims are in regard to damage to property, i.e. car tyres.”