City council hit for €8m in public liability claims: Footpath related issues cost €4.77m

CORK City Council paid out more than €8m on public liability claims between 2019 and 2023, with more than €4.7m paid out for claims relating to footpaths alone.

Some 253 claims were paid out in relation to footpaths during the period, totalling more than €4.77m, while 324 claims were made in relation to potholes, resulting in a much smaller payout of €1m.

The figures also showed there were 87 claims relating to issues arising out of housing, costing the council a total of €693,123 over the period. Claims arising out of incidents on street steps cost a total of €139,772, while there were 24 claims attached to drains and gulleys, giving rise to a total payout of €333,258.

The figures were provided to Councillor Oliver Moran of the Green Party by Cork City Council officials.

It has prompted Mr Moran and his party colleagues to call on the authority to prioritise footpath maintenance and upgrades in the city to reduce the cost of claims and to protect pedestrians.

The party has also called on the National Transport Authority to make more national funding available for the upgrade and repair of existing walking infrastructure.

“While footpaths fit under the heading of active travel, the reality is that day-to-day walking seems to be the Cinderella of transport infrastructure investment,” Mr Moran said.

A spokesperson for Cork City Council told The Echo the funding for the repair and maintenance of footpaths was provided annually, from the authority’s revenue budget, and insisted maintenance works were prioritized and delivered within the annual budget.

“Each year, this entire allocated funding is fully spent by the operations directorate, maintaining footpaths across the city,” the Cork City Council statement said.

“There are approximately 2,000km of footpaths across the city council’s administrative area, comprising many different materials (limestone paving, granite blocks, concrete etc).”

Dáil question

In response to a Dáil question from the Green Party TD Neasa Hourigan, the Minister for Transport, and head of the Green Party, Eamon Ryan, said that while the overall policy and funding of active travel infrastructure was his responsibility, the allocation of this funding to local authorities projects fell to the National Transport Authority (NTA).

“Investment in active travel infrastructure, including footpaths, has increased significantly in recent years, with around €290m allocated to the NTA for such projects, this year alone,” he said.

“While the majority of this funding is dedicated to the development and construction of new walking and cycling infrastructure, just under €40m was earmarked at the start of 2023, for protection and renewal of existing footpaths and cycle lanes.

“Separately, while my department provides grant support for road maintenance and renewal programmes, under the Regional and Local Road Grant Programme, it does not have a specific grant programme for the restoration and repair of footpaths.

“However, local authorities have the option to fund these types of works from certain grant programmes,” the minister added in his response.

NTA response

Minister Ryan forwarded the query to the NTA, to which the transport body said the main focus of active travel investment was to support high-quality walking and cycling infrastructure, “for everyday trips, in villages, towns and cities, particularly in designated growth settlements”.

“Upgrading of existing footpaths is being funded throughout the country, although the focus is on those that produce enhanced facilities for pedestrians.

“[These include] widened footpaths where existing facilities are substandard in width, providing enhanced facilities at junctions, and providing missing links in the walking network,” a spokesperson for the transport body said.

The NTA also pointed out that its Active Travel Programme was a “capital” funded programme.

“Under Government accounting rules for capital expenditure, we are not permitted to fund maintenance works using capital funding under the Active Travel Programme — maintenance works are classified as “current” expenditure items, and cannot be funded by the NTA,” the spokesperson added.