Colm Burke (Cork North-Central, Fine Gael)

One of the other issues that I think there is a huge lack of knowledge of is that when one has an insurance policy and, say, €6 million cover, that €6 million cover is for any one event. If 20 people are injured, the limit of the claim for the 20 people is not €6 million each but €6 million between the 20. I hope that never arises, but a lot of people are not aware that it is any one event that they are insured for, not any one individual.

I also think there is a need for education regarding the limit on policies. I have come across cases where, for instance, insurance companies are refusing to pay out on claims even though they have collected the premium. In one case, a broker filled out the application form and encouraged the person to change insurance companies but what was not disclosed when they were filling out the application for the new insurance company was that there were small claims for less than €5,000 against a previous insurance company. When there was a serious incident, the new insurance company refused to cover because there had not been full disclosure. I wonder about the failure to get that information out there. Every incident counts no matter how small it is. Once a claim goes in against one company, if you are moving companies, you must disclose it.