Mrs Monica De Rossa settled a personal injuries claim in the Circuit Civil Court yesterday for £13,226.
Mrs De Rossa (54), wife of the Democratic Left leader, had sued Dublin contractors F. O'Neill Ltd and Roadstone (Dublin) Ltd following a fall on the footpath outside Ballymun Credit Union in April 1994.
Mr Seamus Woulfe, counsel for Mrs De Rossa, said there was no issue in liability so far as she was concerned, but that both defendants were disputing responsibility for her fall.
Mrs De Rossa, of Pinewood Crescent, Dublin, said she had been walking past paving blocks on the footpath when she tripped on a loop of loose steel tape, used for binding bales of blocks. She had fallen forward on her side, injuring her left shoulder, neck and arm.
Judge Liam Devally said both parties should have realised the potential danger. He told Mr Roddy Horan, counsel for F. O'Neill Ltd, and Mr James McArdle, counsel for Roadstone, he had been unable to exculpate either of their clients and found them equally to blame.