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Engineers Ireland officials warned the Oireachtas Finance Committee on Wednesday that the delivery of homes and other construction projects could be hit because engineers who carry out fire safety inspections face spiralling insurance costs.
John Power, vice president of Engineers Ireland, said a number of UK insurance underwriters that dominated the professional indemnity market have withdrawn from the Republic, while others have hiked premiums as the industry deals with the aftermath of Brexit, the Grenfell Tower fire in London in 2017, and the 2018 collapse of UK construction group Carillion.
Committee member Sinn Féin TD, Mairéad Farrell, told the hearing that one fire safety company that had contacted her saw its premium for professional indemnity coverage jump from €2,500 in 2019 to €7,000 last year. While it was initially unable to secure a quote for this year, the insurance company ultimately returned with a price of €65,000.
Michael Lyons, chairman of Engineers Ireland’s fire and safety unit, said many members of the organisation are saying that quotes for policy renewals “have trebled or quadrupled” so far this year, with underwriters also narrowing what that they will cover.
“If the current trend persists, after a year of renewal notices, there will be relatively few firms in a position to offer fire safety certification design and of construction,” said Mr Power. “This will impact the approval of designs, commencement of projects or the handover of completed projects such as houses, flats, nursing homes and factories.”
He added: “The inevitability is that the construction sector will suffer significantly and there will be a significant number of job losses as professional level.”
Construction ramping up
The warning comes as construction in the Republic is only beginning to ramp up following more than three months of virtual lockdown amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, industry figures say builders are facing sharp raw material price hikes amid shortages of timber, steel, insulation and other supplies. This is being fuelled by global demand spikes and Covid-related bottlenecks, as well as issues relating to Brexit.
Separately, Axa Insurance Ireland chief executive Philip Bradley told the committee that largest provider of motor insurer in the Republic, with a 30 per cent market share, reduced motor premiums by €80, or 12 per cent, on average for customers renewing coverage in April.
This was on foot of new Judicial Council guidelines, paving the way for personal injury award reductions, coming into effect at the end of last month.
General manager of US insurer AIG’s Irish business, Aidan Connaughton, said his company “has already begun to implement rate changes as a result of the anticipated benefits that we see streaming from the implementation” of the guidelines.
Senior executives from insurers Aviva Insurance Ireland, FBD and Zurich Insurance appeared before the same committee last week.