City council paid out more than €4m in compensation for falls last year

Trips and falls cost Cork City Council more than €4m in compensation last year, with average payouts higher than ever at close to €25,000.

Accidents on the city’s main pedestrian-friendly streets, including St Patrick’s St, have cost almost €600,000 alone since 2008, with incidents involving footpaths to blame for most of the payouts.

The cost of claims since 2011 has topped €17m and despite a fall in the number of claims — from 213 in 2011 to 163 last year — payouts have risen from €3.6m in 2011 to €4.048m last year.

The news comes as city businesses face a 2.9% hike in commercial rates as the city council struggles to plug a €1.6m funding shortfall ahead of its budget meeting next month.

Details of the public liability payouts show the 881 claims since 2011 have cost the city almost €17m.

A breakdown of the figures shows that since 2008, the city council has forked out almost €577,000 for claims on St Patrick’s St, Oliver Plunkett St, and Grand Parade/Daunt Square — areas which have seen significant investment to make them more pedestrian friendly.

St Patrick’s St tops the “compo” league table, with just over €379,000 paid out following 22 claims in the period, with footpath incidents featured in eight cases.

The four claims on the street in 2010 cost €152,000, with an average payout of €38,000. A single claim from the street in 2011 cost just over €51,000. Two cases from 2014 and three from last year have yet to be finalised.

Two claims from the Grand Parade/Daunt Square area in 2012 cost the city €97,000, with three from last year still outstanding.

There was no claim from Oliver Plunkett St between 2010 and 2013 but six claims in 2014 alone — two claims involving potholes and two involving slippery surfaces — cost €56,626.

Figures released by the city council show there were:

• 163 claims in 2015, costing €4m. Average claim €24,837;
• 165 claims in 2014, costing €2.99m. Average: €17,568;
• 162 claims in 2013, costing €3.1m. Average: €19,150;
• 178 claims in 2012, costing €3.4m. Average: €18,763;
• 213 claims in 2011, costing €3.6m. Average: €17,056.

Fianna Fáil councillor Tim Brosnan described the figures as “shocking”.

“It’s perverse at a time when the State hasn’t got money to house people, that the city is paying out so much money in compensation,” he said.

Meanwhile, Cork County Council is adopting a get-tough policy on people who allow water to drain off their lands onto public roads, causing millions of euro worth of damage.

SPC chairman Declan Hurley said the council is spending several million euro every year on repairing roads and “then seeing the work undone” because of poor roadside drainage.

He said the council will launch a public awareness campaign soon aimed at landowners.