Irish liability rates to rise

Steep increases of up to 40% in renewal premiums for liability cover have provoked Ireland’s Small Firms Association (SFA) into a vigorous attack on what it calls the country’s “excessive compo culture”. It claims that small firms will become underinsured and face closure. An Irish small business will pay nearly three times as much in public liability premiums as a comparable British business and more than seven times as much as a Dutch one, according to the SFA. The average personal injury award in Ireland is I£13,000 (US$15,200), it says, compared with only I£5,000 in the UK. Pat Delaney, the organisation’s director, described the costs associated with employers’ and public liability claims as “a national scandal”.