Kerry County Council pays out €1.4m in compensation claims in past year

Some €400,000 has been paid out in 36 claims involving property, damage to vehicles during road works, IT issues, engineering and other issues

Director of Finance, Angela McAllen, told the Christmas meeting of Kerry County Council that a total of €985,925 was paid out for 117 finalised claims which were 'mostly of the slips and falls type'.

Kerry County Council paid out close to €1.4m in compensation claims against it over the past 12 months, according to latest figures released by the local authority.

The bulk of the money was paid out for trips and falls across the county — with 117 people succeeding in their actions against the council.

Director of Finance, Angela McAllen, told the Christmas meeting of Kerry County Council that a total of €985,925 was paid out for 117 finalised claims which were "mostly of the slips and falls type".

Some €400,000 has been paid out in 36 other claims brought by individuals against the council involving property, damage to vehicles during road works, IT issues, engineering and other issues.

The information on how many insurance claims Irish Public Bodies — the council’s umbrella insurer — had paid out was sought by Independent Killarney councillor Brendan Cronin. He criticised what he said was the lack of information from the council and said there was "a lack of transparency".

Data protection rules mean the council cannot name individuals who sue the council, it has said previously.

The council now has 24 different policies with IPB across a range of services including employers liability, public liability, property, motor and cyber security insurance. Some €4.14m has been put aside by the council to meet the cost of insurance policies in 2024.

"The insurance policies protect the council against potential claims and loss under a range of activities and service delivery," the council said in a report to Mr Cronin. It also said the council’s insurance unit "monitors and investigates".

There has been a slight decrease both in the number of claims and the cost of insurance premiums in the past 12 months, the council said. However the claims can vary "on an ongoing basis".

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Mr Cronin said he wanted more information, in particular how many of the claims were settled without going to court and if certain locations were repeatedly coming up in trips and falls claims.

Mr Cronin said it was time to call in the insurance group overseeing trips and falls and ask them for an analysis.

"We need to know what are the actual claims for. The reply is too vague. Over €4m in policies is being paid out by this council and we don’t want the names of individuals but we do need locations," Mr Cronin said.

Such information was necessary so as to identify if a particular path could be rectified, he said.

Kerry’s public liability payouts have amounted to €11.5m in the four years from 2018 to 2022. The county is among the top 14 when it comes to the total cost of claims per head of population according to a report by the National Oversight and Audit Commission (NOAC) carried out for the year 2022.

The NOAC found the highest was Dublin City, followed by Co Louth, Cork City and then Limerick City and County.