Teresa Wall’s €40,000 Wicklow Way award under appeal

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Teresa Wall’s €40,000 damages award was being challenged by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) in a High Court appeal before Mr Justice Michael White. The proceedings were reported on 6 December 2016.

At Dublin Circuit Court in April 2016, Judge Jacqueline Linnane ruled in favour of Ms Wall, finding that reasonable care had not been taken to maintain the boardwalk safely and that this failure caused her injuries.

Ms Wall claimed her foot snagged in a hole in a wooden boardwalk near the JB Malone memorial on the Sally Gap to Djouce trail near Roundwood on 6 August 2013. She suffered a gash to her right knee requiring seven stitches. She alleged the NPWS allowed rotted timber to create a tripping hazard, left the boardwalk unsafe and created a public nuisance.

The NPWS denied liability and argued that Ms Wall contributed to her injuries by not looking where she was going.

Giving evidence on 6 December 2016, Helen Lawless, Mountaineering Ireland’s hillwalking, access and conservation officer, told Brian Murray SC, for the NPWS, that hillwalkers had a personal responsibility to know the surface beneath their feet. She considered the boardwalk solid underfoot and fit for purpose, and said it had not failed.

Under cross-examination by David McParland BL, for Ms Wall, she maintained that the boardwalk was safe after 15 years. She agreed that Mountaineering Ireland members had expressed acceptance of personal responsibility following the Circuit Court ruling.

Louis McEntagart SC, for Ms Wall, submitted that the 1995 Occupiers Liability Act required occupiers to maintain structures provided for recreational users safely. He said the boardwalk was unsafe on the accident date.

The report said the hearing was expected to conclude with judgment reserved.