Ireland’s roads are going to pot...

DESPITE having paid out over €1.2 million due to pothole damage since 2005, local authorities have no specific definition as to what actually constitutes a pothole.

Despite handling almost 9,000 claims in the same period, only 13 of the 30 local authorities surveyed, have a specific definition of what a pothole is.

Eight councils have no formal definition but issued an explanation which is “generally accepted” by the local authority. A total of nine local authorities have no specific definition.

Of Dublin’s four separate local authorities, just one, South Dublin County Council, offered a precise definition.

“A pothole is where a surface deterioration has occurred over an area generally less than 1 square metre and the base course aggregate or underlying pavement layer is exposed.”

The remaining three councils had no formal definition but offered a description generally used by the council. In the case of Dublin City Council, this amounted to the broad explanation of a pothole being “a hole in the surface of the roadway”.

Outside of the capital, definitions ranged from the extremely detailed including specific depths to simple dictionary definitions. For example, Kildare County Council is extremely precise in its definition.

“Potholes are defined as bowl-shaped holes of various sizes and depths in the pavement surface which become a defect requiring attention when greater than 0.1 square metres. The severity of the pothole is defined as low when it is less than 40mm deep, moderate when it is 40 to 100mm deep and high when it is greater than 100mm deep.”

However, on the west coast the definition is couched more loosely. Sligo County Council issues a more simplistic definition. “A pothole is defined as a ‘hole in the road surface’ and this is the definition you would find in any dictionary.”