Council not liable for vehicles damaged by potholes

County Council not liable for vehicles damaged by potholes during frost


Anton McNulty

MOTORISTS considering sending an invoice to Mayo County Council for damaged vehicles have been advised that the Council are not liable for any damage caused by potholes and damaged roads.
The issue of potholes the size of craters and roads damaged by the severe frost was raised at last week’s meeting of the Belmullet Electoral Area Committee where councillors were advised that additional funding may not be available to repair the roads.
Councillors complained that the potholes were damaging vehicles with Cllr MicheΡl McNamara calling for the roads to be repaired before the insurance claims are brought against the Council. However, in addressing the issue, the Director of Services, Mr Peter Hynes explained that the Council were not liable for damage caused to cars by potholes and asked motorists to drive with due care.
One of the worse affected roads in the Electoral Area is the section of the N59 between Bangor and Bellacorick where flood lights and electric warning signs were erected to warn motorists of the danger. This section of road and other sections were recently inspected by an inspector from the National Roads Authority (NRA) who has requested an assessment report from the Council before considering the allocation of funds.
The necessity of a report angered Fine Gael councillor, Gerry Coyle who said it was an absolute disgrace and felt the money spent on the flood lights and signs would have been better off spent on repairing the road.
“It is an absolute disgrace that they need a report for that road which has been in bits for years before any frost came. There are holes on the Bellacorick to Bangor road which are big enough to fish in and you would need a lifeguard on duty. The NRA come down and say they want a report on a road that is collapsed. They are putting people’s lives in danger and these are the same people fronting road safety campaigns. They should hang their heads in shame,” he said.
In reply Mr Hynes explained: “The NRA require a report to be carried out and look for specific details of the damaged section and it is not a full condition report. They want the damaged sections surveyed and assessed and what needs to be done to repair it. The NRA have their own procedure and that is the way it is,” he said.
Independent, Cllr Michael Holmes, added that nothing surprises him anymore where the NRA are concerned and said an emergency plan needed to be put in place to deal with the road problems.
“Mayo County Council can’t be blamed for the frost and the way the roads deteriorated but it happened and like all problems it has to be put right. We are getting phonecall after phonecall from people complaining about the roads and I feel an emergency plan needs to be put in place. We can’t have people driving on those roads,” he said.
Padraig Walsh, Senior Engineer with Mayo County Council, told the meeting that they hope to get additional funds to deal with the problem but it remains to be seen what will be available. He added that the N59 at Bellacorick would require an entire reconstruction and was not a simple pothole patching exercise.
Mr Hynes added that there were six sections of that section of road which were damaged and are being assessed. He said it was not clear if funding would be available and they may have to redirect funds which Cllr Holmes replied was like ‘robbing Peter to pay Paul’.