Friday 16 th July 2004

IHF WELCOMES SECOND INTERIM REPORT ON IRISH INSURANCE MARKET

FROM JOINT OIREACHTAS COMMITTEE

Speedy enforcement of Civil Liability and Courts Bill provisions needed

The Irish Hotels Federation today suggested that the 12 key recommendations highlighted in the second interim report on Reforms to the Irish Insurance Market, published by the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Enterprise and Small Business, should result in reduced insurance premiums for Irish businesses. Welcoming the report, the Federation stated that the measures should, if quickly implemented, result in bringing insurance costs more in line with those in other European countries. However it warned that despite substantial improvements being made in the insurance environment over the past year, Irish premiums are still at least 50% higher than those in Britain, and it hoped that these reforms would have marked effects.

The Federation maintains that the passing of the Civil Liability and Courts Bill is a major step in the right direction. John Power Chief Executive, IHF comments that there should now be no delay in bringing the provisions of the Act into force. He states that the Act, combined with the remit of the Personal Injuries Assessment Board (PIAB) being extended on 22 nd July 2004 to include public liability claims, should contribute to a reduced insurance cost environment.

“The hospitality sector as a whole looks forward to the speedy implementation of the recommendations in order to reduce the size and frequency of claims and to ensure transparency and efficiency in processing genuine cases. We are heartened that a number of key recommendations made by the Federation to the Committee have been taken on board in this report,” comments Mr Power.

The IHF particularly commends the attention that the Committee, chaired by Donie Cassidy TD, has given to driving down insurance costs for Irish businesses. It welcomes the report’s recommendation that insurance companies should give notice of renewal two months prior to the expiry of a current insurance policy and submit a quotation one month prior to renewal.

“This will remove the difficulties hotels and guesthouses face when they are given unreasonably short notice to renew their policies,” continues Mr Power. “I would ask the Government to give priority to establishing a group to consider the levels of awards for injuries made by Irish courts, and to benchmark these against awards make in the UK and other jurisdictions,” he concludes.

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