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ALMOST €2.5m was paid out for claims made against Kerry County Council between July 1, 2017 and July 1, 2018, according to figures released at the monthly meeting of the council on Monday.
The Council supplied the information in reply to a motion by Cllr Brendan Cronin who requested the full details of all insurance claims made against the Council during that 12-month period.
During that period, the Council received notice of and processed 287 claims. Many of these dated back to previous years and did not relate to the period in question.
Once a claim is received, Kerry County Council’s Insurances Unit investigates the facts of the claim itself. The processing and handling of a claim is dealt with solely by Irish Public Bodies Insurance.
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A number of claims are rejected and others will be a matter for third parties, as the Council does not hold liability.
From July 1, 2017 to July 1, 2018, three claims were received for flooding, 1367 for vehicle/wheel damage or damage relating to road works. 79 claims were received relating to trips and falls.
During that time, a total of €2.494 million was paid out by the Irish Public Bodies Insurance for claims made against the council, however the majority of these payments do not relate to claims submitted in this period, but to claims submitted to Kerry County Council in previous years.
Of this figure, €24,679 relates to flooding claims, €662,220 was for road-related incidents and €1.67 million relates to trip and fall claims.
The Council’s Insurances Unit confirmed that the general pattern for claims against Kerry County Council is decreasing, due in part to continued improvement programmes to public areas in urban centres around Kerry and the work carried out by the Insurances Unit with the Operations Department and Municipal District Offices.
