In Ireland, if a child accidentally damages your property, the mother or father can just shrug it off and leave the repair bill to the person whose property was damaged.
I believe the parent is only liable when it was a criminal act committed by the minor child and the child has to be of the age of criminal responsibility. So, if a 10 year old child deliberately throws stones at your car or house, you have two choices, you repair it yourself or don't.
There are too may gurrier children running about. Most of these (I'm sorry to say) are from single parent households with no stern authority figure. These are observations of mine which are based on over a decade in this country and very frequent visits before that.