Sustained rise in liability-insurance costs
The Central Bank’s fifth National Claims Information Database (NCID) liability-insurance report finds that the majority of liability-insurance policies in Ireland remain relatively low cost.
of the Irish liability-insurance market, using data collected up to 31 December 2024, examines trends in premiums, policy types, sectoral distribution, claims costs, settlements, and overall market profitability.
Settlement patterns for injury claims remain heavily litigation-driven, the report shows.
In 2024, 71% of injury claimants and 87% of total injury costs were settled through litigation. Of those litigated claims settling in the second half of 2024, 37% were resolved under the Personal Injuries Guidelines.
The report finds decreases in average settlement compensation for claims settled under the guidelines, suggesting that they are contributing to lower award levels.
In 2024, approximately 90% of all policies had an annual premium of less than €5,000. Despite this, premiums have shown an upward trend in recent years.
This indicates that while most businesses continue to pay modest premiums, the overall cost of liability insurance has been increasing over time.
Premium income is highly concentrated among a small number of high-value policies.
Policies with premiums exceeding €25,000 accounted for just 2% of total policies in 2024, yet generated 58% of total gross earned premium.
This concentration is particularly pronounced for standalone policies, where high-premium contracts contributed the vast majority of premium income.
Package policies, by contrast, dominate the lower premium bands and account for most policy numbers but a smaller share of total premiums.
The report also highlights a gradual shift in the distribution of package policies towards higher premium bands over the past decade.
In 2014, over 80% of package policies were priced below €2,000, whereas by 2024 this had fallen to 76%, with a corresponding increase in policies priced above €5,000.
This shift suggests a sustained rise in insurance costs even among standard business policies.
Premium sizes vary significantly across economic sectors.
Agriculture lowest-cost sector
Agriculture remains the lowest-cost sector, with almost all policies priced below €5,000. In contrast, sectors such as manufacturing, transportation and storage, accommodation and food services, and arts, entertainment and recreation exhibit much higher proportions of policies in the €10,000 to €25,000 and above €25,000 premium bands.
These sectoral differences reflect varying levels of risk exposure and claims experience, the report states.
Claims costs, measured through accident-year loss ratios, have improved notably since 2020.
Across all policy types and years, the average loss ratio was 64%, with employers’ liability averaging 83%, public liability 64%, and commercial property 53%.
Loss ratios
Loss ratios peaked at 81% in 2020, largely due to business-interruption claims associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.
The liability-insurance market was profitable in 2024. Insurers recorded an operating profit after tax equivalent to 10% of total income, reflecting the combined impact of higher premiums and lower claims costs.
Over the full period from 2010 to 2024, however, profitability was more modest, averaging 2.1% of total income after tax.