Cork County Council pays out 'extraordinary' €5.6m in footpath compensation claims

Active travel and environmental campaigners have also warned about the danger arising from illegal parking by cars and other vehicles on footpaths

Labour Party TD's Sean Sherlock said: "This is an extraordinary amount of money paid out by the council and underlines the need to ensure that our footpaths are in a safe and proper state."

One of the biggest local authorities in the country has paid out more than €5.6m in compensation related to injuries sustained on footpaths over the past four years.

Cork County Council confirmed that the sum was paid out in relation to 233 claims made between 2019 and 2022. In response to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request made by Labour Party TD's Sean Sherlock's office, the local authority said that it paid €1.8m related to 76 claims in 2019 and €1.69m in relation to 69 claims in 2020.