Pothole complaints surge nationwide with 14,000 reports in Cork alone

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 figures show the number of pothole complaints recorded around the country have surged over the three years – increasing by over 92 per cent between 2022 (when there were 10,212) and 2024 (when there were 19,618).

Speaking to Newstalk, Cork City Councillor John Maher said the roads in some parts of the county are “like walking on the moon”.

“That's how bad it is,” he said. “Number one, the problem is that the local authorities across the country are not funded adequately to address the issues that we face in 2025.

“Secondly, the amount of work being carried out by utility companies and the roads not being restored to a proper standard, in my experience in Cork City Council has been another factor that has led to the bad quality and the potholes on our roads.”

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.

There were just 3.12 complaints per 1,000 people in Donegal despite the fact that its road network spans around 6,500km – second only to Cork (over 12,000km) and Galway (Nearly 7,000km).

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.

It means some €485 was paid out for every 1,000 people in Cork over the timeframe – nearly seven times more than the €70 paid out per 1,000 people in Dublin.

Nationally, the amount paid out in pothole damage claims around the country more than doubled between 2022 and 2024 – increasing by 105 per cent from €191,038 to €392,572.

Meanwhile, the number of claims settled increased by 125 per cent from 839 to 1890.