Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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Question 148: To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if a county council (details supplied) has any responsibility for cars damaged by potholes at a location (details supplied) and have any repairs been made to these roads in past 12 months. [8877/11]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The improvement and maintenance of regional and local roads is a statutory function of each road authority in accordance with the provisions of Section 13 of the Roads Act 1993. The carrying out of works on these roads, including the roads mentioned, is a matter for the relevant local authority to be funded from its own resources supplemented by State road grants.

With regard to damage caused to a vehicle as a result of a pothole, this is again a matter for the local authority concerned. Road authorities are liable for damages only where work is negligently carried out on roads, including footpaths (i.e. misfeasance). However, the authorities cannot be held liable for damages where injury is caused due to their failure to adequately maintain the road or to maintain it at all (i.e. non-feasance). Therefore, a road authority is exempt from civil actions where it fails to keep a public road in repair but is liable if it repairs a public road and does so negligently.