Insurance Ireland and its members have announced a Code of Practice to improve access to mortgage protection insurance for cancer survivors.
The insurance industry's representative body said this comes after talks with the Irish Cancer Society last summer regarding its 2021 report.
The report found that many cancer survivors do not feel that they can access the necessary life cover in order to obtain a mortgage.
In a statement, Insurance Ireland said they see the approach as a pragmatic solution that appropriately balances the needs of cancer survivors without causing a reduction in availability of cover for other consumers.
It also reassured those affected that, as things currently stand, it is not the case that all applicants who disclose a cancer diagnosis are automatically declined cover.
Many mortgage protection applications of this nature are accepted at either standard rates or with an additional cost, it added.
The new code provides cancer survivors with the 'Right to be Forgotten'.
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This means that insurers will disregard a cancer diagnosis where treatment ended more than seven years previous to their application, or more than five years if the applicant was under 18 at the time treatment stopped.
It also provides cover of up to €500,000 per cancer-surviving applicant in connection with a mortgage on a principal private residence.
Data from Insurance Ireland members shows that over 90% of mortgage protection policies in Ireland are below €500,000.
Insurance Ireland said these are the minimum requirements for the application of the Code of Practice and an individual insurance firm may decide to go further if it so chooses.
It also said that while talks regarding access to insurance for cancer survivors continue at European level, the code goes beyond the proposed provisions for mortgage amounts of €200,000 or less and a period of 15 years since end of cancer treatment.
Participating insurers commit to implementing this framework within six months.
Insurance Ireland said it continues to engage with a number of stakeholders regarding various aspects of the code, including appropriate independent oversight and governance of the provisions.
But it said that insurers are keen to move ahead with the code on a voluntary basis initially to ensure that barriers to access for many cancer survivors can be removed as soon as possible.
'Important step' but not 'ultimate goal'
The move has been welcomed by The Irish Cancer Society, which said it is "an important first step but is not our ultimate goal".
It said this remains the enactment of legislation, although they see the Code of Practice as a "positive interim measure while legislation goes through the Oireachtas".
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In a statement this morning, the charity said that it also welcomes the acknowledgement by the insurance industry that cancer survivors are being "penalised despite having finished treatment many years ago".
"The Irish Cancer Society will continue to work with the Oireachtas Cross Party Group on Cancer to advocate for robust, enforceable legislation that is not of a voluntary nature like an industry Code," the statement said.
"Over many years, cancer survivors have reported to the Irish Cancer Society the challenges they face when trying to move on with their life after cancer and how the insurance and banking industries can reject or penalise them when trying to access financial products, even long after they have completed successful treatment.
"Other European countries have already put 'right to be forgotten' legislation in place and the sky hasn’t fallen in."
