Council demands meeting with insurers

The Council is demanding that a representative from the Insurance Federation of Ireland (IFI) address elected members on spiralling insurance costs and how they are impacting both consumers and businesses.
It follows the latest major knock to small to medium sized businesses after UK based 'LeisureInsure' withdrew from the Irish market, a move that has left hundreds of Bouncy Castle providers now in a state of limbo. Also affected are adventure and leisure centres, yoga classes and some play centres.
LeisureInsure will honour existing premiums, but says it will not accept any new Irish business going forward.
“They covered more than just bouncy castles - fairs, festivals, you name it,” says Damien Lynch of Damien's Castles.
“Take the August Bank Holiday weekend for instance, and all that happens there. There's a lot of events there and more coming down the track that'll end up not having cover, and now could end up having to be cancelled very quickly. LeisureInsure was the only one that does them,” he added.
While the Belturbet-based businessman has company cover until June next year arranged through 'LeisureInsure', he does not know what will happen beyond that.
Damien expanded his business last year through significant investment. He also counts himself lucky in that his premium hadn't risen over the years, but worries too about the prospect of a monopolisation and spike in prices should only one market player emerge.
One option being explored is through the Irish Inflatable Hirers Federation (IIHF), which is working on the possibility of a group policy.
“That doesn't help the people whose insurance is up in a week's time. I've a year on my side, but at the minute there's no solution to this thing. If no one stands in, you're going to see a lot of businesses forced to close.”

Cowboys
One positive arising, Damien suggests, is that to get insurance in future will mean that a stricter set of guidelines will have to be adhered to, meaning that “cowboy” operators could be forced from the industry.
“We all joined [the IIHF], so hopefully they'll be able to do something. I've my training done, safety certs and all that. Hopefully, if nothing else it'll get rid of the cowboys.”
The council meanwhile passed a motion to speak with IFI officials on foot of receipt of a letter from the Department of Finance concerning insurance industry reforms.
Aontú's Sarah O'Reilly dismissed the response from the office of Minister of State for Financial Services and Insurance, Michael D'Arcy TD, as “disappointing”.
Her proposal to seek a meeting with IFI was seconded by Fine Gael's Peter McVitty.