Cork country’s compensation capital
The court handed out awards totalling 1.1m in 94 cases heard from October to December. There were 16 more claims and €100,000 extra paid out in Cork city and county than in Dublin, despite the capital having three times the population.
Cork Lord Mayor Colm Burke, a solicitor, said the numbers should be treated with caution as the city’s circuit court may have been dealing with a backlog.
Overall the number of civil bills issued, including ones relating to personal injury, is still much higher in Dublin than in Cork.
Fianna Fáil Deputy Noel O’Flynn, while disagreeing with Cork being the ‘compo capital’ of the country, said that quite a number of claims were spurious. “In my own experience with the local authority, we have had quite a number of claims being manufactured, though an active investigation unit has reduced the number,” he said.
The council pays out around €3.5m a year. Mary O’Donovan of the council’s finance department said: “Services are bound to suffer. Public liability has be taken into account when the estimates are being drawn up.”
Mr O’Flynn questioned whether Dublin and Cork were being compared like with like but, if they were, it would be “alarming.”
The figures were contained in the Court Service’s 2002 annual report.
A total of 434 Circuit Court cases were heard in the three-month period and 5m paid out, involving sums of between €500 and €42,000.
In Dundalk, 62 cases were heard, while in Clonmel there were 37, in Limerick 29 and Tralee 18.
This compares with none in Portlaoise and Trim and just one each in Carrick, Kilkenny, Longford, Mullingar, Roscommon and Tullamore.
While the Circuit Court heard the majority of personal injury cases, the High Court dealt with 160 of the more serious cases. Awards were made in 153, five were dismissed, one struck out and the other withdrawn.
In two cases, more than 1m was awarded, including the highest award of €3.75m. The lowest award was €4,177.
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