Farmers have been urged to be vigilant in examining any of their trees that are sited on public road frontage following a €3.75m High Court settlement in Dublin this week.

Mr Justice Kevin Cross approved the settlement of approximately €3.75 million in a case taken by Julian Karra against landowner Nigel Kelly, Drumdangan, Rathdrum, Co Wicklow. Mr Karra was left brain damaged and blind in one eye after a tree fell on his car on 4 February 2010.

Settlement of the case settlement also involved a separate payment of €600,000 to be made by Wicklow County Council. Mr Karra’s legal team alleged that there had been failure to properly maintain, prune or lop the tree so as to ensure it did not become top heavy or dangerous and to prevent it toppling over. It was also alleged there was failure to take necessary precautions or adequate care of a tree within close proximity of a public road to ensure it did not represent a serious, ongoing danger to the passing public.

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It was to be testified that the tree fell because of root rot, not strong wind. It was alleged that the County Council failed to adopt appropriate rescue attempts and measures at the time of the incident. Mr Kelly and Wicklow County Council denied all claims.

Adequate insurance

Today (Thursday) Wicklow IFA chairman Tom Shortt advised farmers to be aware of their legal responsibilities in maintaining roadside trees in safe condition and of the necessity to have adequate insurance cover.

“Unfortunately there has been a greater incidence of storms in recent years and a lot of trees that were considered safe came down. We saw this during the storms of last February. Assessing the safety of trees is a job for professionals. Big beech trees can look perfect but be badly decayed in the centre.

And while local authorities have put big pressure on farmer to maintain hedges and trees they don’t pay the same attention to non-farmers. There’s an imbalance there.”

Read more: Legal liability for fallen trees.