EXCLUSIVE: Louth County Council pays out millions in compo

Louth County Council and its insurers have paid out over €8.5millon in compensation claims for accidents in public places over the past five years, new figures have revealed.

Compensation payouts for the years 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 came to a total of €8,766,223, according to data obtained by the Dundalk Democrat via Freedom Of Information request.

And the amount of compensation payouts by the local authority appear to be trending upwards in recent years when the figures from 2014 to 2021 are examined.

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The council and its insurers paid out the most in 2019 with €2,334,066 going on compensation claims for accidents, while 2017 saw the least amount paid out in the last five years with €1,274,683 spent.

Last year saw €2,058,235 paid out, which is almost double the figure of five years ago.

Meanwhile, 2018 saw €1,457,947 spent on claim outlays and the year of the pandemic, 2020, saw €1,641, 292 expended on claims.

Each yearly figure included the amount spent on legal fees as well as damages paid to claimants.

The information received by the Democrat also revealed the total number of claims that were successfully paid out.

For the five years in question, 682 compensation claims were paid out, with last year seeing the most claims paid out, a total of 196.

This gives an average figure of €11,908.5 spent per claim (legal fees and payout) by the council last year, while the year with the highest payout was 2019 with an average figure of €14,232.11.

Again, the number of payouts appears to be trending upwards.

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Dúiche Roden