Kerry County Council has paid out more than €1.3 million in insurance claims over the past 12-months.
The figures were released to Independent councillor Brendan Cronin, who tabled a motion on the issue at the recent meeting of Kerry County Council.
The local authority has its own insurance unit which investigates all claims made against it and reports to their insurance company, IPB Ltd.
Cllr Brendan Cronin asked the council how many individual insurance claims IPB has paid out on behalf of Kerry County Council over the past 12-months and he sought details of the type of claims and the amounts paid out.
153 claims have been finalised; the majority relate to public liability which saw 117 claims finalised last year at a cost of €985,925.
Council management confirmed to Cllr Cronin that public liability claims typically referred to trips, slips and falls.
16 claims were classed under motor and they amounted to €70,526, while 12 were property related at a value of €289,137 and eight were classed under ‘other’ with a value of €42,553 and these related to IT, housing and engineering.
It says there’s a reduction in the overall number of claims.
Cllr Brendan Cronin called for transparency in terms of successful claims:
The council outlined it has 24 policies across a range of services including employers liability, public liability, property, motor and cyber security insurance.
It says the overall cost provision by the council for next year is €4.144m; this represents a decrease on this year's premium of 5% and is less than 1% of the overall capital and revenue expenditure for next year, it says.
