*Cllr PJ Kelly. Photograph: Eamon Ward
Management in Clare County Council have been reminded by a long-serving councillor to implement improvements to footpaths around the county to avoid the risk of insurance claims being lodged against them.
Speaking at a recent meeting of the West Clare Municipal District, Cllr PJ Kelly (FF) declared “footpaths are a problem”. He referred to a county “not too far away from us” which is forced to deal with a high amount of claims annually. “Certain people wouldn’t survive in that county if it wasn’t for damaged footpaths,” Kelly commented.
He referenced a recent incident where a single adult aged in their mid forties “went into a playground recently and got €30,000 coming out of Court. Who wants to win the Lotto when you have that,” the former school teacher stated.
Kilrush “had a high number of claims” for numerous years, Cllr Ian Lynch (IND) detailed. “As a result, we had the highest allocation for footpaths but there wasn’t work much done. If we’re under pressure we could maybe look at doing the work on a contract basis,” he suggested.
Their discussion followed a motion by Cllr Kelly that the footpath on the Kilrush Rd in Kildysart be resurfaced.
Senior executive engineer, Alan Kennelly said that the footpath would be examined with any localised flaws or defects to be repaired. “I believe some deficiencies in the footpath have been caused by planted trees failing,” he outlined.
