Public bodies trying to find patterns as figures reveal 'staggering' level of insurance claims
The level of insurance claims paid out on behalf of local authorities so far this year has been labelled "staggering" by a leading hotelier.
It comes after figures released under the Freedom of Information Act, showed €43m was paid out on behalf of 28 councils in the first nine months of the year. Last year the cost was €47m over 12 months.
Hotelier and Entrepreneur Liam Griffin said the money could be put to better use.
Mr Griffin said: "It's absolutely staggering, I mean you'd build a lot of houses for it, you'd build a lot of social stuff for it, you'd do a lot of hospital stuff for it.
"It just seems to be an extraordinary amount of money."
Identifying the patterns of insurance claims and taking pre-emptive action are just some of the ways for local authorities to tackle the number of claims against them.
Longford County Councillor Seamus Butler said national research shows some patterns to claims.
Councillor Butler said: "Irish Public bodies say that in recent years they have decided they will contest a lot of claims and they have done a lot of research and they are looking for patterns.
"And some patterns have merged that are quite amazing in that there seems to be a lot of families, or related people, who seem to be particularly prone to accidents."
