Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Thursday, 29 September 2022
Committee on Public Petitions
Consideration of Public Petition on Reform of Insurance for Thatched Heritage Buildings: Discussion
Mr. Eoin Darby:
On the commercial aspect of the quotes I received, commercial policies have quite different terms from the typical house policy. One of them in particular is that they had a minimum fee, a minimum charge, that they had to put into the policy just to justify doing it. That made it quite different from the standard house insurance, which is quite a competitive market in Ireland. That was one of the factors. Another factor was the extra things I had to do in the house for the insurers to entertain it. I mentioned smoke detectors. We had put in normal smoke detectors, which is a requirement of any new-build house. These were mains-wired but not communicating to each other, whereas the system I have to put in now to get this policy in place has an interlinked communications system connected back to the utility room, effectively, which is connected into the alarm system for the security of the house, which is centrally monitored. That has a monthly recurring charge that I will have to pay for the remainder of the entire mortgage and insurance policy. It is just another addition on top of the cost of the premium, not to mention the maintenance of the thatched roof going forward.
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