Hit by a Car as a Pedestrian in Ireland: Your Right to Compensation

If a driver's carelessness causes injuries to a pedestrian, the driver is usually liable to pay compensation. If the driver had no insurance or drove off and cannot be found, the pedestrian may be able to claim compensation from the Motor Insurers' Bureau of Ireland (MIBI) instead.

In every case, the claim must be filed with the Injuries Resolution Board before any court case can start. Generally, the injured party has two years from the accident to bring court proceedings if the claim does not resolve at the Injuries Resolution Board stage. Claimants try to notify the driver of the claim within one month of the accident. If the pedestrian was also partly to blame, their compensation can be reduced in proportion to their blame.

This guide explains each of these points in more detail and what to do in the weeks after the accident.

Who pays when a car hits a pedestrian?

A claim arising from someone's negligent driving or use of a car or other mechanically propelled vehicle is one of the claims that has to go through the Injuries Resolution Board. The claim is against the person whose ownership, driving or use of the vehicle caused your injuries. In most cases, the driver will be the party responsible.

At the scene, the law puts duties on the driver. Where a person is injured in a public place and a vehicle is involved, the driver must stop, offer assistance, and keep the vehicle at or near the scene for a reasonable time. The driver must give "the appropriate information" on demand to a Garda or, if no Garda is there, to a person entitled to ask for it. That information is the driver's name and address, the owner's name and address, the vehicle's registration and the insurance details. You, as the injured person, are entitled to ask for it. If you were killed or incapacitated, a family member or another person looking after you can ask instead. Where a person other than the driver is injured, the driver must also report the accident to a Garda as soon as possible, unless they have already given the information to a Garda. A driver who does not meet these duties commits an offence.

What if I was partly to blame?

You can still claim. Irish law does not stop a claim just because the pedestrian was careless too. Where your injuries were caused partly by your own lack of care and partly by the driver's wrong, the court reduces your compensation by whatever amount it thinks "just and equitable having regard to the degrees of fault" of each side. If the court cannot establish different degrees of fault, liability is split equally.

The law also limits when your carelessness counts against you. A failure to take reasonable care for your own protection only counts if the injury came from the particular risk your conduct exposed you to. So the question is not only "did the pedestrian do something wrong?" It is also whether what you did actually contributed to the injury you suffered.

Example (made-up figures). A court values a pedestrian's claim at €40,000 and finds the pedestrian 25% to blame for stepping out between parked cars. The award is reduced by 25%, so the pedestrian receives €30,000.

Your solicitor can tell you how strong any argument about your own fault is on your facts.

What if the driver drove off or had no insurance?

The MIBI compensates people injured in road traffic accidents caused by uninsured or untraced vehicles or drivers.

You start an MIBI claim either by claiming directly from MIBI or by applying to the Injuries Resolution Board and naming MIBI as a respondent. There are some conditions that must be met before MIBI is liable.

• Name MIBI and give notice. If you apply to the Injuries Resolution Board, you must name MIBI as a respondent. Before you make the application, you must send notice of the claim by registered post. It goes to the insurer if you know there was a policy that seemed to cover the vehicle, and to MIBI in any other case. It must also go to the owner or user of the vehicle, unless they are unidentified.

• Report to the Gardaí quickly. The accident must be reported to An Garda Síochána within two days of the event, or as soon as reasonably possible. The claimant must also co-operate fully with the Garda investigation.
• Give MIBI notice in time. The claimant or their legal representative must give prior notice of their intention to seek compensation within the time limits in the Statute of Limitations. MIBI asks for the claim notification form as soon as possible after the accident so it can start investigating. Only a fully completed and signed claim notification form counts as formal notification.
• Hit and run: be ready for an interview. Where an untraced driver caused or contributed to the accident, the claimant must make themselves available for interview by MIBI's agents within 30 days of completing the application to the Injuries Resolution Board. A solicitor can be present.
• Uninsured driver: ask for the insurance details first. A claimant should demand the driver's or owner's insurance details in writing. If that demand has been unsuccessful after two months from the date of the accident, the claim can then be notified to the MIBI.

MIBI deducts from what it pays any benefit or compensation you have received, or are entitled to receive, from another source. Damage to your property caused by an unidentified vehicle is not covered. The exception is where you also suffered substantial personal injuries involving an inpatient hospital stay of five days or more (in which case the first €500 is still excluded).

The deadlines that could catch you out

One month: the letter of claim

Within one month, you should send the driver (the "wrongdoer or alleged wrongdoer") a notice in writing stating the nature of the wrong you say they committed. The month runs from the date your cause of action accrued, or from your date of knowledge (explained below) if that is later.

Missing this deadline does not end your claim, but it can cost you. If you fail to send the notice in time without reasonable cause, the court hearing your case shall draw such inferences from the failure as appear proper. Where the interests of justice require it, the court shall also either make no order for your legal costs to be paid or reduce them. If you have been in hospital, or were too badly hurt to deal with this, tell your solicitor: the penalty applies only where the failure was "without reasonable cause".

Two years: the main time limit

A personal injury claim "shall not be brought after the expiration of 2 years from the date on which the cause of action accrued or the date of knowledge (if later) of the person injured".

Your "date of knowledge" is the date you first knew all of the following:

• that you had been injured
• that the injury was significant
• that the injury was caused, in whole or in part, by the act or omission you say was negligent
• who the defendant is
• if someone other than the defendant did the act, who that person is and the extra facts that support a claim against the defendant.

You are treated as knowing what you could reasonably have found out from facts you could see or check, or with medical or other expert advice that it would be reasonable for you to seek. But you are not treated as knowing a fact that only an expert could tell you, as long as you took all reasonable steps to get that advice and, where appropriate, to act on it. You are also not treated as knowing a fact that you failed to learn because of the injury itself. This can matter after a head injury.

Knowing the driver's identity is one of the facts. If you knew all of these facts on the day of the accident, the two years run from that day. Do not assume your date of knowledge is later without legal advice.

Example (made-up dates). Aoife is struck by a car at a junction on 14 March 2025, and the driver gives her his details at the scene. Her two years run from 14 March 2025. The letter to the driver should go out within one month of that date. Her solicitor should make her application to the Injuries Resolution Board well before March 2027, not in its final days. Exactly how the last day is counted is a technical point your solicitor will confirm.

Making the Board application stops the clock

Time does not run while the Injuries Resolution Board is dealing with your claim. For the respondents named in your application, the period from the making of the application until 6 months after the Board issues an "authorisation" (its permission to go to court) is disregarded. This only works if the application is a proper one. It must be signed by you and must include your name, date of birth, phone number and address, and your PPS number (or other identity documents if you have none). It must also include the name and address of each person you say is liable, and the date, time, place and description of the accident. Finally, it must describe your injuries and confirm that the enclosed medical report describes them. An incomplete application can leave your time limit running.

Children and people who lack capacity

A child is a "person under a disability" under the Statute of Limitations, and so is a person of unsound mind. A person reaches full age at 18. Where the injured person was under a disability when the claim arose or on their date of knowledge, the claim may be brought at any time before the expiration of 2 years from the date the disability ended (for a child, reaching 18), or from their death if that came first. You do not have to wait that long: a claim can be made on the child's behalf by a "next friend" (usually a parent).

How a claim works: the Injuries Resolution Board

Unless and until an application is made to the Injuries Resolution Board, and the Board authorises it, no court proceedings can be brought on the claim.

Applying. The application must be in the form set by the Board's rules. Your solicitor will complete it for you. The application must usually be filed with:

• a report from a doctor who treated your injuries
• receipts, vouchers or other proof of your expenses and losses (these are submitted later in the process).

The Board also charges a small fee to the claimant.

What the Board does next. After it receives the application, the medical report and the fee, the Board serves a notice on the driver (the "respondent"). The notice asks whether they consent to the claim being assessed, or to mediation if you have asked for it. If the driver consents to assessment, or simply does not reply in time, the Board arranges an assessment. If the driver refuses, the Board issues you an authorisation, which allows you to bring court proceedings. The Board can also decline to assess a claim, for example where the issues are particularly complex.

The assessment. The Board assesses what your claim is worth on the assumption that the driver is fully liable. It applies the same legal principles a court would. It must have regard to the Personal Injuries Guidelines, and must give written reasons if it departs from them.

Accepting or rejecting. Both sides are asked whether they accept the assessment. If you do not reply in time, you are treated as having rejected it. If the driver does not reply in time, they are treated as having accepted it. If you reject an assessment that the driver accepted, and you then go to court and get no more than the assessment, the court cannot award you your legal costs, subject to limited exceptions. In that situation the driver is also treated as having offered you the amount of the assessment. Rejecting an assessment is a serious decision to take with your solicitor.

You are entitled to get legal advice on your claim. Note that fees and expenses you pay in connection with your Board application are generally not recoverable as legal costs if the case later goes to court.

What compensation covers

Pain and suffering ("general damages"). The Board must have regard to the Personal Injuries Guidelines. The Guidelines cover all claims for general damages for pain and suffering for personal injuries, however caused. Judges are required to follow them, but may depart from them for reasons that must be explained. "Personal injury" includes any disease and any impairment of a person's physical or mental condition. A psychological injury caused by the accident can therefore form part of the claim. Read more about psychological injury claims.

The Personal Injuries Guidelines are available online (link below). You should ask your solicitor to interpret them for you.

Financial losses ("special damages"). Where you seek special damages for loss or damage, the Board's application documents can include receipts, vouchers or other documentary proof of it, so keep every receipt from the start.

Be accurate in everything you say

If you knowingly give false or misleading evidence in any material respect in a personal injury case, the court shall dismiss your whole case. The only exception is where dismissal would result in injustice, and the court must state its reasons. The same applies to a false sworn affidavit. Describe your injuries and your recovery honestly, including what you can still do.

When a pedestrian is killed

Where a person dies because of another's wrongful act, the person who would have been liable can be sued for damages for the benefit of the dead person's dependants. Only one action can be brought against the same person over the death, and it is for the benefit of all the dependants. The action is brought by the personal representative. If there is no personal representative after six months, or they have not brought the action within that time, any or all of the dependants can bring it.

The damages can include:

• compensation for the loss each dependant suffered because of the death
• compensation for mental distress, capped at €35,000 in total for all dependants
• funeral and other expenses actually incurred because of the wrongful act.

The time limit is 2 years from the date of death, or from the date of knowledge of the person for whose benefit the action is brought, whichever is later. Where the law requires a court to approve a settlement of a fatal claim, a Board assessment the family accepts needs the same approval.

For support with life-changing injuries, see our page on serious injury claims.

What to do in the days after the accident

Get medical treatment and keep attending follow up appointments. This is important to document your claim. A report from a doctor who treated you is part of the Board application. Make sure the accident is reported to the Gardaí. In a hit and run or an uninsured-driver case, this is a condition of an MIBI claim, and it should happen within two days or as soon as you reasonably can. Write down the driver's details, the registration, the insurance details and the names of witnesses. Keep receipts for every expense. Then speak to a solicitor early, so the one-month letter goes out on time and the Board application is complete.

You can find more on how these cases run on our road traffic accident claims page.

Sources

• Personal Injuries Assessment Board Act 2003.
• Civil Liability Act 1961.
• About MIBI Ireland, Protecting victims of uninsured drivers.
• Motor Insurers' Bureau of Ireland Agreement 2009.
• Statute of Limitations (Amendment) Act 1991.
• Civil Liability and Courts Act 2004.
• Road Traffic Act 1961, section 106.
• Unidentified Vehicles.
• Uninsured Vehicles.
• MIBI Agreement Details, Current & Past.
• Statute of Limitations 1957.
• Minister Burke publishes independent report on injury compensation and launches new Injuries Resolution Board’s Strategy.
• Personal Injuries Guidelines.
• Frequently Asked Questions.
• Joint Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration to examine proposed reforms to personal injuries and sentencing guidelines, 9 Feb 2026, 17:06.