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Fri, 14 May 2010

The Irish Insurance Federation (IIF) has warned of rising premiums

Insurers warns of rising premiums

 

 

 

The Irish Insurance Federation (IIF) has warned of rising premiums in the wake of increased payouts caused by the extreme weather experienced in Ireland in recent months.

 

The freezing weather in January and the floods of November last year have caused a spike in claims, with insurers paying out almost €300 million to customers whose homes were affected by burst pipes earlier this year. The IIF said the total cost of claims now stood at €541 million.

 

The combined insurance cost of these two severe weather events [the freezing weather and flooding that happened in quick succession, is likely to be nearly 60 per cent of annual turnover in the property insurance market..

 

In 2008 insurers saw a 29 per cent increase in household claims and this upward trend continued in 2009, even before the flood and burst pipes claims hit. January's freeze was the largest single weather event ever for the insurance industry and the cost of both the freeze and the floods was more than the combined cost of all other weather events for the past 10 years.

 

The floods that hit Munster, the west of Ireland and the midlands severely cost insurance firms €244 million. Most of the claims came from Cork, where €141 million of claims for commercial and household property damage were filed. Galway and Clare had claims of €23 million and €16 million respectively.

 

In comparison, all serious weather events that have occurred in the last decade cost a total of €358 million.

 

Whilst we cannot prevent natural catastrophes and the impact of climate change may only be reversible in the very long term, if at all, there are measures that can be taken to minimise the damage caused by weather events in the future. But there has to be a concerted, national approach, with clear ownership, to address issues such as improving planning and development rules to take greater account of flood risk, the priority attached to investment in flood defences, and even practical day-to-day measures such as effective and consistent management and maintenance of watercourses and drainage.