COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
Monday, March 09, 2020
QUESTION NO. 12
QUESTION: Councillor Shane Moynihan
To ask the Chief Executive for the number of legal claims taken against the Council from the past 5 years as a result of injury arising from footpaths in a state of disrepair, in tabular form, by year and electoral area and the cost to the Council of same.
REPLY:
Since 1st January 2014 the Council has been fully insured by Irish Public Bodies (IPB) who manage all claims on the Council’s behalf.
The table below provides details of the number of footpath/slip and trip related claims registered against the Council over the last 5 years. Reports compiled by IPB do not include a breakdown per electoral area.
|
2015 |
2016 |
2017 |
2018 |
2019 |
|
137 |
140 |
138 |
104 |
117 |
Since becoming fully insured by IPB the cost to the Council of all public liability claims, including footpath related claims, is included in the cost of the Council’s annual public liability insurance policy.
South Dublin County Council has been working constructively with IPB in order to reduce the number of claims made against the Council. Staff have attended training in relation to the importance of proper record keeping, early investigation and an efficient Affidavit/Discovery process. Identifying and mitigating areas of potential risk is also ongoing in order to ensure that the county is as safe as possible.