The Irish Insurance Federation has said consumers can expect an increase in premium prices as a result of the cost of recent severe weather.
The Federation says claims as a result of flooding and frost will exceed €500m, almost 60% of what the industry took in through premiums last year. Cork, Galway and Dublin are among the worst affected counties.
Thousands of acres of land and hundreds of homes were flooded last year. The cost to insurance companies for that damage runs to €244m, well behind the €300m cost of insurance pay-outs for frost damage suffered by more than 22,000 customers.
The impact of this bill on consumers will be an inevitable increase in premium prices. The IIF says price rises are a matter for individual companies, who are in the market to make a profit.
But chief executive Mike Kemp says poor infrastructure, planning and management are part of the problem and greater investment is needed to ease the impact of severe weather conditions.
Rising premiums for some may be a problem, but for others the possibility of withdrawing flood cover in a growing number of areas has not been ruled out by the IIF.
