Legislative changes are urgently needed to prevent scam insurance claims being made against marts and driving up the cost of premiums.

Ray Doyle, the livestock service executive with ICOS, has called on Minister of State for Finance Michael D’Arcy to prioritise changes to regulations for marts.

“Many marts find themselves being a victim of claims,” Doyle said. He added that small business such as marts were effectively being “scammed out of business”.

He is calling for legislation that would mean all claims must be made within 28 days of an alleged incident and that any legal costs associated with claims which proved to be fictitious must be carried by the claimant.

Doyle said that GDPR rules mean that marts must delete CCTV footage within 28 days of recording it, but insurance claims can be made and logged up to two years after an alleged incident without the marts’ knowledge.

Many marts are being crippled by increased premiums.

Donegal Mart’s premium more than doubled to €13,500/yr in 2018 after two disputed claims were made.

However, all marts are bearing the cost of increased premiums. Dan McCarthy, manager of Kenmare Mart, told the Irish Farmers Journal that their insurance is “soaring” every year.

“It’s gone up 20% in the last three years and we haven’t had any claims,” McCarthy said.

Loss-making

FBD is the dominant mart insurer in the country and recently told a Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance on 4 April that: “Nobody else wants to come into the market because it is loss-making.”

“For every euro, it is costing us €1.60,” John Cahalan, chief commercial officer with FBD, told the committee.

Cahalan acknowledged that, despite increased health and safety regulations in marts, that the company has not seen premiums “decrease at the rate we would like to see”.

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