‘If only I could ban high heels...’

A High Court judge has said he might be “serving womankind” if he could stop people wearing high heels.

Mr Justice Michael Hanna was speaking during a case in which a woman sued Dublin City Council after breaking her ankle in a fall she claimed was caused by a broken pavement outside a nightclub. The council denied liability.

Alison Boylan, aged 35, a mother of five from Saggart Lakes, Saggart, Co Dublin, had been wearing high-heeled shoes she bought the day of her accident which were shown to the judge.

“I think I might serve womankind if I could stop people wearing those shoes — but that is not my function,” he said.

Following talks between the parties later in the day, the judge was told by Conor Magure SC, for Ms Boylan, the case had been settled and could be struck out.

The judge congratulated the parties on reaching agreement before commenting: “You have relieved me from having to make a major fashion statement”.

Ms Boylan had been out on May 17, 2009, with her husband, and had just come out of Buck Whaley’s Piano Bar in Leeson St, Dublin, when she tripped and fell on her knees and hands. When she looked around, there was a piece of the kerb missing.

The city council denied her claim, saying she was intoxicated to such an extent that she was unable to exercise proper control of herself. Ms Boylan said she had only had three drinks.

The next morning, she was in “unbelievable” pain and had to go to hospital, where she was put in a cast. She had to use a wheelchair for four weeks after the accident.