Home Insurance in Ireland

Premiums for home insurance in Ireland are affected by the amount of subsidence in a geographical area, the size of the property, cost of rebuilding it, local construction standards, along with the availability in the area of labour and materials.

A scheme aimed at helping individuals put in place home insurance is run by the Northern Ireland Tenants Action Project (NITAP); an organisation which puts affordable insurance in reach of housing executive and housing association tenants.

Families on lower incomes have found it difficult in the past to obtain affordable home insurance in Ireland as many insurers have imposed a minimum contents cover, such as £20,000.

Those on low incomes have tended to possess home contents worth less than £20,000, were paying for extra insurance they didn’t require, and as a consequence low income households were opting to not insure themselves at all.

The scheme was set up for occupants needing home insurance in Northern Ireland, and allows policy owners to insure their personal possessions from as little as 80p a week.

Tenants over 60 can insure their contents for as little as £6,000 and everyone else from £9,000 for minimum contents cover. Customers are allowed to pay premiums fortnightly rather than having to pay in advance, alternatively they can opt for Direct Debit or annual payments, for which they are offered discounted premiums.