Fianna Fáil councillor withdraws High Court action over ski trip fall

A Fianna Fáil councillor has withdrawn her legal action over an alleged 2015 skiing fall in which she fractured her hip.

Details of the personal injuries case emerged during Deirdre Conroy’s campaign as a candidate in the 2021 Dublin Bay South byelection.

The Dublin city councillor said she was hurt when her guide allegedly failed to watch her descend the Andorran slopes. The claims were denied.

In her action, Ms Conroy said she expressed concerns to the group’s instructor about icy conditions. There was very little snow on the slopes, which were mostly brown, with a thin layer of artificial snow, she claimed.

The Dublin-New York Portal didn’t show us Manhattan, just our badly-behaved selves

---

Cannes 2024 Movie Quiz Special: How many women have won the Palme d’Or for directing?

---

Eric Clapton in Dublin review: guitar hero rocks the grey-haired faithful with a night of classics

---

Dublin-Monaghan bombings: ‘When I looked out into the street, I knew all normality was gone. It was like hell on Earth’

---

On Tuesday, a High Court registrar was informed by Ms Conroy’s barrister, Oonah McCrann SC, that the matter had been resolved outside of court. The case had been withdrawn, she said.

The defendants, through their counsel David Nolan SC, consented.

Ms Conroy’s case, initiated in 2016, was against the ski-tour operator Specialist Holiday Group Ireland Ltd, trading as Crystal Holidays, and TUI UK LTD.

Ms Conroy, then a travel writer for the Irish Independent, was one of six journalists on the January 2015 trip, which was paid for by Crystal Holidays.

She claimed her right leg gave way as she made a left turn while descending the slopes.

She said a screw was placed into her hip and femur by doctors in Andorra, and she later had to have a full left hip replacement in the Beacon Hospital in July 2015.

The councillor said the injury caused her “significant interference with the enjoyment of everyday life”, leaving her with “ongoing and continuing pain”, a limp and difficulty sleeping.

She claimed the holiday organisers were negligent as there was allegedly little snow on the slopes, the group’s ski instructor allegedly failed to properly monitor her and refused her request for a break.

Crystal Holidays and TUI UK denied all of the claims.