BY CATHERINE COOK
PUBLIC liability cl-aims paid by Donegal County Council in the last three years have increased by 500 per cent. The news has led to calls for a serious look to be taken at where the increase is coming from.
The poor state of some of the county's roads has resulted in Donegal County Council having to pay out almost half-a-million euro in compensation this year.
In 2003 the County Council paid ¤95,802 in public liability claims. To date this year, however, ¤491,786 has been paid out on 110 claims, marking an incredible five-fold increase.
Councillor Patrick McGowan asked to be presented with a breakdown of figures for the last three years ahead of this week's monthly County Council meeting because he was shocked by the increasing number of people he encountered who were pursuing a claim against the Council.
On receiving the breakdown of figures, Cllr McGowan admitted he was 'stunned' at such a colossal increase.
"The numbers of payments being made by the Council in respect of public liability claims is getting massive. It's time for something to be done to address and question why such a large amount of money is being paid out." he said.
Cllr McGowan did not get a chance to raise the question at this week's meeting, but speaking to the Donegal News afterwards, he commented:
"I am extremely concerned as to where so much money is going to. At this stage it is not clear who is at fault, but this is something I will be taking up with council engineers."
"I would have thought, with the millions being spent on them, that our roads are getting better. It's time that we got ahead of the problem and I will strongly suggest that all Electoral Areas follow the role of Donegal and appoint a fault finder. This would be one person whose designated job is to go out and see where potential faults lie in order to get them remedied as quickly as possible and prevent accidents from happening."
Potholes are the biggest cause of claims, contributing to 41 of the 110 claims this year. The highest numbers were recorded in the Letterkenny Electoral where 41 people made public liability claims. Glenties came second with 20 people making claims, followed by Inishowen with 14 claims lodged, Stranorlar with nine and Milford and Donegal with eight.
While potholes were the cause of most claims, other contributing factors were the condition of the road, roadworks, footpaths or other (which includes debris on road, flooding and third party reinstatement).
Cllr McGowan continued:
"With the budget only round the corner we are constantly getting letters from the Minister telling us we are accountable for the money we spend. And we are constantly being asked by IBEC to reduce our rates. The money we are spending on public liability claims could mark a reduction of at least three per cent on Council rates."
He continued: "I wouldn't be naive to think that we can eradicate all claims but we need dedicated staff to deal with them."
"I also am not questioning the bona fides of these claims because I have seen personally the huge amount of work which is involved in making one."
In conclusion he stated: "The state of some of our roads is costing the council dearly and this needs to be addressed as soon as possible. It is certainly a case of 'a stitch in time saves nine'. We are paying out on claims, and it's too little too late, we should be preventing the problem in the first place."
