The Chief Executive of Insurance Ireland has said insurers will be covering travel to Green List countries, including Covid-19 related issues, but urged consumers to be cautious and check the situation with their providers before they travel.

The Chief Executive of Insurance Ireland has said insurers will be covering travel to Green List countries, including Covid-19 related issues, but urged consumers to be cautious and check the situation with their providers before they travel.
Moyagh Murdock said insurers will be covering travel to Green List countries, including Covid-19 related issues, but urged consumers to be cautious and check the situation with their providers before they travel. 
Speaking on RTÉ’s Today with Sarah McInerney Ms Murdock said people should be careful about booking a trip.
She said that if a person travels to a Green List country and the country’s status is changed during their stay, they will still be covered by insurance. She said insurers have been paying out to those who booked holidays to now “red list” countries before the lockdown.
In relation to motor insurance, Ms Murdock said she understands there has been a reduction in the number of small damage claims on the roads over the last three months.
She said that it has been absolutely accepted that there has been a reduction in volumes on the road and that insurers have given a commitment to pass on the benefit of this to customers in the future.
She said that motor insurers have refunded €56m to customers and Ireland is the only country that has done this. 
She said AVIVA was on record as not participating in this scheme but they have done other things, such as providing a vehicle or transport for healthcare workers, and facilitating the removal of a vehicle from a policy if it was parked up for the duration of the lockdown.
Ms Murdock pointed out that while there was a lot less traffic on the roads during the lockdown period, there were still a lot of serious collisions on the roads.
Regarding business interruption cover, she said at the outset of the pandemic providers committed to honouring business claims where there was a clear cover for pandemic business interruption.
If there was no cover there would be no payout and in gray areas, the benefit of the doubt would be given to the consumers.
So far, she said, there has been approximately €10m paid back in business interruption cover and a significant number of policies have been honoured.
There have been 9,000 claims processed. Of these, she said, there are some that would undoubtedly have been rejected.
Ms Murdock said there are around 70,000 to 80,000 policyholders, but very few claims have been submitted.
However, she added, it is still very early days and businesses are still assessing the impact.
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She also said that insurers are working to ensure that schools can reopen fully, adding it is not unusual to use other premises outside of the school building for extracurricular activities and that these will be covered in September.