“It’s
a huge issue, we have a group of play centre owners and they’re all in a panic.
I’m 90pc sure there won’t be any left next year if this continues,” Stephanie
told Independent.ie.
Stephanie
Reid, owner of Monkey Business in Co Galway, said many of the owners are
convinced that they won’t have businesses this time next year, with a number
already facing closure.
Owners
of children’s play centres across the country are said to be in a “state of
panic” over rising insurance costs.
“With
many people having renewals coming up, insurance companies seem to be picking
high numbers out of the sky. The thing is they’re not making money from them,
play centres are considered ‘high risk’.”
“It
seems like they’re picking policies depending on location, and things like
their history of claims and then giving out quotes.”
One
of the leading members of the group, Linda Murray, found out on Monday that her
insurance had spiralled.
Linda
explained how she was given a quote of €2,500 for insurance when she first
opened Huckleberry’s Den in Navan in May 2013, but was last year quoted almost
€16,500.
She
said that she has had two claims over the past five years, neither of which
were negligent.
Failing
to match the rocketing premium prices, Linda said she now faces closure if she
cannot find insurance.
“I’m
not going down without a fight. I’m gone now until something changes, and I
don’t know where I’m going to get insurance,” Linda told Independent.ie.
“I’ve
got 12 employees and I’ve been open for five years. If we close our centre in
Navan, there won’t be any indoor play areas for children in the locality. We
complain about obesity among children, but where are they supposed to play on a
rainy day?”.
According
to Linda, the insurance difficulties may come from an increase in fraudulent
claims nationwide.
“Parents
need to stop wrapping their kids in cotton wool. Kids need to be able to run,
they’ll graze their arms or their legs, and unfortunately sometimes they may
break an arm or a leg.
“But
that's not the playgrounds fault, neither is it the child’s fault, the play
centre hasn't been negligent- the child simply fell. It happens. We used to run
and fall all the time when we were kids, but we didn’t run into court to get
money for it.”
One
incident that Linda recalls was a letter she received from a customer, claiming
their child had been injured at their centre unbeknownst to Linda and her
staff.
“I
received a claim where I had nine staff members on, seven of which were
first-aid trained, and there was no incident report or nothing reported to
staff,” she explained.
“Four
months later I got a letter saying their child had been injured at our centre.
There was no child left crying, and no CCTV evidence. When you get something
like that, that you don’t know if it happened, the onus should be on them.”
The
group of owners have received support from the Alliance for Insurance Reform,
of which Linda is a board member.
A
spokesperson for the group, Peter Boland, told Independent.ie that the group
have noticed the children’s sector being particularly hit with high insurance
quotes.
“What
we’re seeing is that certain sectors are being affected and kids play zones are
one of them. Regardless of the reasons, what seems to be happening is that
areas that facilitate the children of the country are particularly targeted,”
he said.
“If
you look at the attitude towards playgrounds, adventure centres, bouncy castles
and the likes in Ireland, it appears they’re all under threat.”
Mr
Boland said that the alliance would like to see the establishment of a Garda
Fraud Unit in the near future to deal with these claims.
"We
also need a massive improvement in transparency coming from insurance industry.
We’re calling on the industry to tell us what reduction in our premiums we’re
going to get because of all the reforms being pushed through.
“We're
frustrated with the lack of progress. We’re not trying to be hysterical or
alarmist, but we did say 10 months ago that kids play centres are in danger of
closing, and they are.”
A
spokesperson for Bonkers.ie, a comparison site for insurance cover, said that
one of the problems lies with an increase in exaggerated claims over the last
few years.
“The
main issue here is the huge increase in personal liability claims in Ireland
over the past few years. In 2007, for instance, there were 133 High Court
personal injury cases with court awards. By 2016, there were 390,” they told
Independent.ie.
“While
some claims are genuine, many are frivolous at best and outright fraudulent at
worst, and this is pushing up the cost of insurance for everyone, to the point
where it's unaffordable for some businesses.
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