Road Damage Council

JP Liz V1

Has anyone advice on taking a claim case against the council for vehicle damage caused by bad roads, ramps and potholes etc., is it just a waste of time and money?

Also is the motor tax payment for the upkeep of roads?

Apologies if in the wrong forum

BlakeS94

I got money back for a new tyre before from hitting a fairly big pothole, took a photo and sent it on to the council and they paid me back the cost of the tyre replacement.

What sort of damage do you have

Gman2021

know someone who got an alloy paid for but that was only because half the town had made complaints about the pothole before your man hit it.

JP Liz V1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122172288#Comment_122172288

I had to get a new tyre and also puncture repairs, complained and it took a while for a response finally

I think the council now outsource claims to an insurance company

mk7r

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058352825/road-damage-council

It's possible to claim but they don't make it easy, each council is different.

No motor tax has nothing at all to do with the upkeep of the roads

JP Liz V1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122172364#Comment_122172364

I thought motor tax went for roads maintenance

con747

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122172366#Comment_122172366

Motor tax goes into the pot, where it ends up is anyone's guess!

mk7r

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122172366#Comment_122172366

Nope there is no ringfencing of funds, it goes on social welfare, health etc

prawnsambo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122172424#Comment_122172424

Motor tax goes to the relevant County Council. Who don't pay for social welfare or health.

magicbastarder

AFAIK the biggest factor is whether the road surface is bad by omission or commission. If it's simply degraded, it's on you. If you blow a tyre out on unmarked roadworks (which happened me when I borrowed my dad's car many years ago - dirty wet night and they'd filled with water so it just looked like a puddle) then you stand a chance of having the damage paid for.

Peregrinus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122172424#Comment_122172424

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122172675#Comment_122172675

There is no ring-fencing of motor tax receipts. They go to the central government, which then makes grants to local governments, but there is no required connection between the amount of motor tax received and the amount awarded to local governments.

But we can cut through the administrative details. All that really matters is that expenditure on the construction and maintenance of road in Ireland each year is much greater than the amount of road tax collected. In 2021, total motor tax revenue was €907 million, while the 2021 Dept of Transport expenditure on road maintenance and improvement was €1.43 billion.

prawnsambo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122172821#Comment_122172821

Not according to this:

According to the Minister for Environment, Heritage, Local Government John Gormley has stated that motor tax receipts are paid directly into the local government fund which is ring fenced for local government purposes. Each year the motor tax receipts are supplemented by an exchequer contribution. The fund is used primarily to finance regional and local roads and the general purpose needs of local authorities.

magicbastarder

given the mention of gormley there, that info may be out of date.

18.4 The financial transactions for motor tax are managed by the Department through the
motor tax account. The Department holds a bank account to allow for the collection and
allocation of motor tax, and transfers that income to the Central Fund of the Exchequer

that's from a report seemingly from 2021 or 2022:

https://data.gov.ie/dataset/motor-tax-receipts

Peregrinus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122172868#Comment_122172868

Your quote is from 2010, but I think the arrangements have changed since them. The Local Government Fund still exists, but as far as I can find out it is now funded by (a) local property tax, and (b) exchequer funding.

Even when road tax did go into it, the LGF was ring-fenced for local government purposes generally, but no particular part was ring-fenced for expenditure on roads. The Minister disburses the LGF to local authorities and tells them what to spend it on. He decides how much of it they are to spend on their functions as road authorities, and there need be no connection between that amount and the amount of road tax (if any) paid into the fund.

mk7r

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122172675#Comment_122172675

It used to but not anymore, not in a long time (more than a decade) and even then it wasn't ring fenced for roads

McGrath5

I've heard of people claiming against a council for degraded roads like a pothole. Claiming for damage because of a ramp, isn't the whole point of ramps is to make you slow down.

JP Liz V1

It was high temporary ramp, shabby done if makes sense, up with no warning signage, I wasn't even going fast

User1998

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122174341#Comment_122174341

That link on all your posts is very annoying

JP Liz V1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122174523#Comment_122174523

It's just promotion of a games site that some of us Boardsies set up after vanilla move as the games forum here had zero activity