Biggest ever footpath repair programme planned for Cork City

With 633 successful claims since 2014, it means Cork City Council pays out an average of €19,905 per successful compensation claim.

A local authority hopes to secure a multi-million loan and match-funding package to begin work on the single largest footpath repair programme ever across Cork city.

It comes as new figures show that Cork City Council paid out more than €12.6m in compensation claims for trips or falls on footpaths over the last decade.

With 633 successful claims since 2014, it means the council pays out an average of €19,905 per successful claim.

City councillors said the shocking state of some of the city’s footpaths was one of the biggest issues raised on the doorsteps during the local election campaign last June.

However, despite tens of millions of euro in funding being made available nationally to local authorities for the construction of active travel infrastructure like bus and bike lanes, and new wider footpaths, strict spending rules means that money can only be spent on building new footpaths and not on repairing or reinstating existing footpaths.

That funding rule must change, chair of the city’s finance and estimates committee, Fianna Fáil Cllr Sean Martin, said.

“Footpaths are active travel infrastructure,” he said.

“We have this situation where active travel funding can build new footpaths but isn’t available to fix existing active travel infrastructure like footpaths.

“Our footpaths are in a dire state, and we need to address that so that people can walk safely to school, to the shops, to Mass or into town.

“And we need to get at it fast, but every year, the condition of some of the footpaths worsens.

Footpath repair loan

City councillors voted in September to increase Local Property Tax, varying the local adjustment factor upwards by 3%.

A percentage of the income generated from that increase will be used to service a €4m footpath repair loan.

Officials hope that when the loan is drawn down, it will help them secure match funding, or even more funding, from either the Department of Transport or the Department of Local Government to help fund a massive footpath repair programme next year.

The funding will be split evenly between each of the city’s five local electoral areas.

It is expected that councillors will work with officials on a list of priority repair areas.

Compensation claims

Meanwhile, figures released under Freedom of Information show that the highest amount of footpath compensation was paid out in 2018 when a total of €1,517,305 was paid out following 68 successful claims. 2018 also had the highest number of successful claims.

The data shows 2014 had the lowest amount of compensation paid out for footpath related incidents, with €603,201 paid out arising out of 57 successful claims.

The lowest number of claims was recorded during covid, in 2020 and 2021, with 40 successful claims in 2020, with a total annual payout of €673,006, with 49 successful claims in 2021, just nine more than the previous year, but the amount of compensation paid out that year topped €1,337,316.

The data shows that after footpaths, roads and potholes account for the next single largest compo bill, topping €3.7m over the last decade following 207 successful claims — an average payout of €17,800.

The data also shows that in 2015, parks and playgrounds was added as a specific section, and that two successful claims were recorded, with a total payout under that heading that year of €17,500.

There was one successful claim in relation to a halting site in 2015, with €18,000 paid out.

Two more park and playground incidents were recorded in 2017, with €15,000 paid out in total that year, with two more successful claims in 2018 leading to a total payout of €23,495.

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In 2019, there were three park and playground incidents, with a total payout of €25,000, with one halting site incident and a total annual payout of €1,500.

It would be 2020 before there was another park and playground incident, with a payout that year of €8,750 in successful claims, with three successful claims again in 2023, and a total payout of €15,750.

As of mid November 2024, the data shows two successful claims for park and playground incidents, with €14,000 paid out by that date.