Ms MaryRose McGovern:

I am delighted the Chair has raised our digest of decisions of travel insurance. It is a permanent resource on the website, and anybody who is intending to head off on a holiday or a long weekend, or to visit a loved one abroad, can go online to our website, fspo.ie, and have a look at the booklet. We have chosen decisions that highlight the sort of themes that give rise to complaints. One thing to bear in mind, if you are heading away, is that you should not leave it until you are locking the front door and heading off to the airport. The time to review your travel insurance is before you are anywhere close to departing. If you take 15 minutes to read through the terms and conditions of the policy, it will give you a much better understanding as to what you are covered for. There are some travel insurers that do not cover any pre-existing condition, so it does not matter whether you actually disclose it. You are not going to be covered; that is not the product that is on offer. For many other travel insurers, pre-existing conditions will be covered as long as you give the insurer an opportunity to have a look at the details of that pre-existing condition in order that it fully understands it and can quote for it.

The Cathaoirleach mentioned a couple of case studies there. Consider the case of "Maeve" and "John", for example, who were due to head off on a holiday. Maeve had had an X-ray but she had not disclosed this to the insurer when she purchased the travel insurance policy. Unfortunately, her issue led to the cancellation of the trip and then she sought to make a claim. Maeve did not know that she had osteoarthritis but she knew that she had had an X-ray. It is important for consumers to take some time over this. We can be very optimistic about our own health. We can feel that we are doing very well but if a person has had an X-ray or blood tests, they are indicative that there is something going on. It does not need to have a name or a diagnosis. Those are the symptoms of something, and having the symptoms of something is indicative of a pre-existing condition.