Cork County Council paid out €9m to one person following a public liability claim in 2024

The National Oversight and Audit Commission (NOAC), the independent statutory body responsible for overseeing the performance of the local government sector, has this week published its 2024 Local Authority Performance Indicator report.

The report, which assesses local authorities on 46 indicators across 11 key areas, shows that Cork County Council performed particularly poorly compared to the national standard in areas such as social housing vacancy and the rankings of roads.

It also revealed that both the city and county councils paid out high levels of public liability claims. In one particular instance, Cork County Council paid out €9m to one person following a public liability claim.

Claims per capita

NOAC requested IPB Insurance, the company used by local authorities for public liability, and local authorities nationally to provide details of pay out costs, which they measured by the amount paid out in claims per capita as per the 2022 Census.

The average per capita cost of public liability settled claims in 2024 was €13.74, an increase from €12.40 in 2023, with the cost increasing every year.

The three highest per capita costs of settled claims for 2024 were Cork county at €38.19; Dublin city at €29.04, and Cork city at €27.22. Cavan saw the lowest per capita cost at just 0.75c.

Cork City Council attributed its 2024 increase in costs to finalising 15 historic cases totalling €514,098.21 and a general increase in value of claim settlements and costs.

Cork County Council reported two particular claims of almost €9m and €3m respectively, which account for its significant increase in costs in 2024.

Housing

Cork city and county’s social housing stock both increased by just under 300 to 10,857 and 8,528 respectively at the end of the year.

Nationally, there were seven local authorities where the vacancy rates were less than 2%. There were 13 with vacancy rates above 2.75%, including both Cork councils.

Cork city’s vacancy rate was 3.05%, and it took the council an average of 33 weeks to re-let a house once vacated. It spent an average of €18,082 per house between tenancies.

It spent an average of €2,069 on housing maintenance per house they owned, the third-highest spend on maintenance nationally.

Cork county’s record was poorer, with the third-highest social housing vacancy rate in Ireland last year at 4.7%. It took the council 48 weeks on average to re-let a property, the sixth longest in Ireland.

It spent an average of €34,353 per house preparing each for a new tenant, and also saw the highest increase in housing maintenance costs nationally — going from €679.91 in 2023 to €1,422.55 in 2024, a 109% increase.

The NOAC noted that some of this rise is accounted for by the way it now calculate costs.

Cork City Council performed well in the area of private rental inspections, inspecting 49% (10,279) of the properties with registered private rental tenancies, considerably more than any other local authority.

It reported that 79% of inspected dwellings, or around 8,164 properties, were not compliant with regulations. There were 7,280 re-inspections, and 5,198 properties were deemed compliant, with the figure including some which were re-inspected after failing the first time.

Cork County Council inspected 2,863 private rental properties, or 17% of stock, and found 94% to be non-compliant on first inspection.

Despite this, just 454 properties were reinspected. Only 652 properties were deemed compliant during the year.

The report also looked at homelessness, and noted that 54% of adults in Cork city and 52% in Cork county in emergency accommodation were classified as long-term homeless at the end of the year.

Planning

Planning also makes up part of the report, for both housing and commercial developments, noting that 40 of Cork City Council and 146 county council planning decisions were appealed to An Comisiún Pleanála last year. The board agreed with the city council’s initial decision in 60% of cases, and the county council in 71.23%.

Applications for fire safety certificates also fall under the planning category, with NOAC data showing Cork City Council to be among the slowest local authority nationally at deciding (either granting or refusing) these applications, with just 20.75% decided within two months — compared to 47.32% in the county.

Roads

Cork city had the second-highest average unit cost of regional road strengthening at €81.56/m² and the third-highest average unit cost of local road strengthening at €68.08/m², behind just Dublin local authorities in both cases.

The report looks at pavement surface condition index (PSCI) ratings for roads, with the system grading from one for the poorest to 10, and found that Cork county has some of the worst rated roads in the country.

In Cork county, 23% of primary roads were rated nine to 10; 55% seven to eight; 7% five to six; and 12.6% one to four.

Of its secondary roads, 17.6% were rated nine to 10; 39.5% seven to eight; 14% five to six; and 23% one to four.

For its tertiary roads, 9.5% received a nine to 10; 20.6% seven to eight, 28.4% five to six; and 24.7% one to four. In all three road types, the county had the second-highest percentage of worst-ranked primary roads in Ireland.

In Cork city, 41% of primary roads got a PCSI rating of nine to 10; 38.1% between seven to eight, 15.6% five to six; and 4% one to four, making their primary roads among the best ranked nationally.

Of its secondary roads, just 3.65% ranked one to four; 16.3% five to six; 45.6% ranked seven to eight; and 32.9% nine to 10. Of its tertiary roads, 3.4% were ranked one to four; 23% five to six; 38.1% seven to eight; and 27.3% nine to 10.

Cork city strengthened 16.6km of roads during 2024, one of the lowest in Ireland, spending more than €8m, with among the highest costs per m² in Ireland.

It was one of six local authorities not to re-seal any of their roads.

However, the report notes that Cork city — along with the four Dublin local authorities and Galway city — did not receive grants from the Department of Transport, meaning works were funded through their own resources.

Cork county, which has the largest road network in Ireland, strengthened 405.8km of regional road, more than twice as much as any other authority, spending just over €70m in total or €46.39/m² for regional roads and €32.74/m² for local roads.

They also resealed 61.3km of regional roads, at a cost of €10m or €5.91/m² per regional and €4.91/m² per local road.

Environment

The NOAC measured how drinking water in private schemes complied with statutory requirements, and found that 98.53% were compliant in Cork city, and 95.21% in Cork county — the second-lowest in Ireland.

It also highlights that 5,178 complaints were made about pollution in Cork during 2024 — 2,929 of these in Cork city and 2,249 in Cork county.

NOAC also assessed each authority to within the five levels of litter pollution. Just 7% of Cork city was classed as unpolluted or litter free, 87% as slightly polluted, 7% as moderately polluted, and 0% as either significantly or grossly polluted.

While Cork county had a much higher level of unpolluted areas than the city, it also has some worse polluted areas.

The report found that 30% of Cork county was unpolluted or litter free, 45% was slightly polluted, 23% moderately polluted, and 2% significantly polluted.

• The full report is available by following the link at https://www.noac.ie.