€15m in compensation payment has has been made by Cork City and County councils for slips, trips, and falls since 2016. Information obtained using a Freedom of Information Act request also indicates that there are hundreds of cases yet to be settled.
So far in 2019, up to March 31, €1,144,594 for personal injury claims by Cork City Council in relation to slips, trips, and falls in the public realm, including parks and common areas in council-owned housing estates. This compares to the totals amount paid out in over the last couple of years as follows:
- €4,350,550 in 2018
- €4,254,068 in 2017
- €3,999,606 in 2016.
For the same time periods Cork County Council paid:
- €129,626 in 2018
- €667,754 in 2017
- €782,035 in 2016
Currently for Cork City Council there are 455 personal injury claims unsettled as of March 31, 2019. Cork County Council have 230 unsettled cases as of the same date.
Fianna Fáil councillor Terry Shannon, a former lord mayor of Cork, claims that this is the result of years of poor investment in the public realm.
He said: “It is a direct result of the decline of the condition of the public realm: potholes, cracked footpaths, and so on. The issue is getting worse and the amount paid each year is getting bigger, because we haven’t been able to fix long-standing issues, because national government hasn’t invested the money.”
He claimed (Mr Shannon) that Cork City Council has allocated €5m in 2019 for potential personal injury compensation payouts.
To address this the Council has been allocated €200,000 is due to the council this year to, according to Mr Shannon “upgrade and repair footpaths that have fallen into bad condition and have been the subject of a number of liability claims”.
He described this amount as insufficient saying the funds will be “used to patch up areas that have been the result of multiple claims but, ultimately, it won’t go far enough to make a real difference.”