Roscommon leads the way on pothole complaints
Roscommon is leading the way on complaints per capita about potholes.
The number of pothole complaints recorded by county councils around the country surged by over 92% between 2022 and 2024. Roscommon now leads the way on complaints per capita – while people in Kildare are least likely to complain.
Drivers in Cork called in nearly three times more pothole complaints than those in any other county over the last three years.
New figures released to Newstalk under the Freedom of Information Act show Cork City and County Councils received over 14,000 pothole complaints in the last three years.
Dublin comes in second place, with the capital’s four local authorities fielding over 5,000 complaints from disgruntled drivers. Kerry comes in third with nearly 4,500 complaints, Limerick is in fourth with 4,232 and Meath rounds out the top five with 3,366.
The number of pothole complaints recorded around the country also surged over the three years – increasing by over 92% between 2022 (when there were 10,212) and 2024 (when there were 19,618).
The figures show that there were just over 24 complaints for every 1,000 people in Cork over the time period – seven times more than the figure for Dublin and more than double the national average. There are, however, two counties that saw more complaints than Cork on a per capita basis.
Kerry comes in second with just over 28 complaints per 1,000 people and Roscommon leads the way with a whopping 33.6 complaints per 1,000 people. People in Kildare are the least likely to complain, with just 0.4 complaints per 1,000 people – 26.5 times lower than the national average. The bottom five also includes Donegal – the county with the third largest road network in the country.
Drivers in Cork were also paid out by far the most in pothole-related damages between 2022 and 2024. Some 1,283 Cork drivers were paid out a total of €283,465 over the three years – more than double the €116,222 paid out to 469 drivers in Meath (second place).
It is also 2.75 times the €102,722 paid out to 286 drivers in Dublin.
The county with the highest payout per capita is Meath where €526 was paid out for every 1,000 people. The county with the lowest payout per capita is Laois where it was just €24 per 1,000 people.
Louth, the smallest county in Ireland with the third-shortest road network, paid out the fourth-highest amount in pothole damages. The Wee County saw €61,736 paid out to 373 drivers – some €15,000 more than Tipperary in fifth place.
Nationally, the amount paid out in pothole damage claims around the country more than doubled between 2022 and 2024 – increasing by 105.5% from €191,038 to €392,572.
Meanwhile, the number of claims settled increased by 125% from 839 to 1890.
