A fall on a footpath or in a pothole: claiming against the council

You fell on a broken footpath, a raised kerb, an open gully or a pothole, you are hurt, and you want to know whether anything can be done. This guide tells you who the respondent is, the rule the courts apply to roads and footpaths that makes these claims different from a fall in a shop, the record to make this week, and the two dates. It does not decide whether the council is responsible in your case.

Who the respondent is

Public roads and footpaths in Ireland are the responsibility of the local authority for the area: the city or county council. Where the surface belongs to someone else, the respondent is different: a private forecourt or car park is the occupier's under the Occupiers' Liability Act 1995, a utility's reinstatement after it opened the road may be the utility's, and a building site's hoarding or temporary surface may be the contractor's.

Finding out who was responsible for the piece of ground you fell on is the first task, and sometimes the hardest. Photographs of the spot, including any marking, cover or signage, help answer it.

The rule the courts apply to roads and footpaths

A fall on a public footpath is not the same claim as a fall in a supermarket. The courts have held, for a long time and consistently, that a road authority is not liable in negligence for merely failing to maintain or repair a public road or footpath. This is the non-feasance rule. A council that did nothing about a cracked flag or a deepening pothole is, under that rule, not liable for the failure to act.

The rule has a limit. Where the authority, or a contractor for it, carried out work and did it badly, so that the work itself created the danger, the courts have held that liability may follow. This is misfeasance: a trench backfilled and left proud, a flag relaid loose, a gully reinstated with a lip. The question in most footpath cases is which side of that line the facts fall on, and it is a solicitor's point, argued on the evidence.

Section 60 of the Civil Liability Act 1961 would have abolished the non-feasance rule and made road authorities liable for failing to maintain. It has never been brought into force. Until it is, the rule stands, and any claim against a council for a fall on a footpath has to engage with it.

None of this means a claim cannot be made. It means the evidence about how the defect came to be there matters more than in most claims, and that a solicitor would weigh it before the Board's Authorisation is used.

The record this week

Photographs with scale

Photograph the defect the same day if you can, or send someone to do it. Take a wide shot that shows where it is, with a landmark, a lamp post number or a shop front in frame. Take a close shot with something for scale beside the defect: a coin, a shoe, a ruler. Measure the depth of the hole or the height of the lip if you can. Photograph it in the light conditions that applied when you fell, and again in daylight.

Note the map location on your phone. Note the time, the weather and what you were wearing on your feet. Keep the footwear.

Defects get repaired, sometimes within days of a report. The photographs you take this week may be the only record that the defect existed.

Witnesses

Take the names and numbers of anyone who saw the fall or who knows how long the defect had been there. A neighbour who reported the same pothole months ago, or a shop owner who complained about the flag, is a witness to notice, and notice is part of the picture.

The doctor

See a doctor the same day and say how it happened. The record made that day is the first evidence of the injury, and the Board's medical report, the Medical Assessment Form (Form B), is written by the treating doctor or GP. Keep every receipt; the Board's making-a-claim page says expenses can be sent after the application.

Reporting the defect to the council

Report the defect to the local authority at once, through its online reporting form, its customer service email or its roads section. Give the exact location and attach a photograph. Keep the acknowledgement and its reference.

The report does two things. It fixes the date on which the council was on notice of the defect, which is part of the record. And it gets the defect repaired for the next person.

You can also ask the council, under GDPR and under the Freedom of Information Act, for its records about that stretch of footpath: previous reports, inspection records, and any works orders for the spot. Works orders are what show whether the surface was recently worked on, which is where misfeasance begins. The Data Protection Commission explains the right of access to your own data; an FOI request goes to the council's FOI officer.

Damage to a car or a bicycle is a different claim

A search for "pothole damage claim" mostly turns up property damage: a wheel, a tyre, a suspension arm. That is a property claim, not a personal injury claim. It does not go to the Board, has no medical report, and is made to the local authority directly, usually through its claims or insurance section, or through your own motor insurer. The non-feasance rule applies to it in the same way.

Where you were injured as well as your bicycle or car being damaged, the two claims are separate. The injury goes to the Board. The damage is dealt with directly, and the Board's own FAQ says a property claim settled separately does not affect the injury claim.

The one-month letter and the two years

The section 8 notice is a short letter to the council stating the nature of the wrong alleged: a fall caused by a defect in the footpath at a named place on a named date. It does not describe your injuries, argue fault or name a figure. Served late without reasonable cause, it lets a court draw inferences and refuse or reduce your costs. Address it to the council's law agent or chief executive and keep a dated copy. The section 8 guide explains it and the letter builder writes it.

The two years run from the fall or from the later date of knowledge. A Board application pauses the clock while it is open and for six months after the Authorisation. The time-limit guide explains both.

The Board

Nearly every personal injury claim in Ireland goes first to the Injuries Resolution Board (still searched as PIAB; see the glossary). Section 12 of the 2003 Act means a claim cannot go to court until the Board has dealt with it or issued an Authorisation. A claim against a local authority is no exception.

The application is the Board's online form (€45 online, €90 by post), the medical report on Form B and proof of identity. You name the council as respondent. Local authorities are generally insured through a shared scheme, and the insurer or claims agency replies. The respondent has 90 days to consent to an assessment. Councils often decline, because the non-feasance rule is a liability defence and the Board assesses on the assumption of full liability without deciding liability at all. Where the respondent declines, an Authorisation issues and the claim may go to court, where the rule is argued. The lead Board guide walks through each step, and the rejecting an assessment guide covers what court means.

The Board's Award Values Report for July to December 2025 gives a median award in public liability cases, which includes claims against local authorities, of €14,118. That is the middle of every public liability award with expenses included, and not a figure for any injury. The figures page carries it with its date.

Where a solicitor comes in

The Board says a solicitor is not required to apply, and that is true here too. But the non-feasance rule means that in most footpath claims the real question is liability, and the Board does not decide liability. A solicitor would weigh the photographs, the works records and the rule before advising whether to use an Authorisation, and the Law Society's directory lists solicitors by area. Section 149 of the Legal Services Regulation Act 2015 means a solicitor may not charge personal injury costs as a percentage of damages.

Where this leaves you

You have the order of things: the photographs with scale, the report to the council, the witnesses, the doctor, the one-month letter, the two years, the Board, and the rule a solicitor would weigh. The first-week checklist prints these steps for a fall on a footpath or road, with the sources beside them.