Council’s legal fees outstrip cost of compensation

COMPENSATION claims in 2005 cost Cork County Council less than the legal fees it had to fork out to settle the cases.

This emerged yesterday in a report prepared by the council’s head of finance, Ger Power.

In 2005 payouts for personal injury cases cost the council €1,064,000. In addition it had to pay €34,000 for damage to property.

However, it cost €1,101,500 for legal fees of the claimants, the council’s legal fees and engineering, technical and medical fees.

In total the local authority paid out nearly €7.25 million in compensation claims and associated fees between 2004 and 2006.

Its legal fees etc in 2004 and 2006 were, however, actually less than the compensation paid out in both those years.

The highest payout for personal injury compensation claims over the three years occurred in 2004 when it cost the council €1,798,500. This figure was reduced the following year and by 2006 was halved to just €859,000.

That news was welcomed by Cllr Michael Ahern (FF) who had sought the breakdown on compensation claims. Legal fees have also dropped, which he also welcomed.

They went from a high of €1,192,000 in 2004 down to €1,101,500 the following year and dropped last year to just €707,000.

However, Mr Ahern said he was concerned about the blip in 2005 when they outstripped the compensation payouts.

“This has to be looked at in more depth and I will be requesting further information on it. I will also be seeking more information on why there was a dramatic jump in property damage compensation last year,” said Mr Ahern.

In 2004 property damage claims cost the council €40,500. The next year they were even less, at €34,000. But last year they increased by more than 10 fold over the 2004 figures, coming in at €485,000.

The reason for the jump wasn’t outlined in Mr Power’s report. He stated the local authority was very conscious of progressing risk assessment and risk management within its organisation.