€10 million paid out in claims after Big Freeze

€10 million paid out in claims after Big Freeze


Áine Ryan

THE Irish Insurance Federation (IIF) has revealed that €10 million  was paid out to home and business owners in County Mayo as a result of damage incurred during the protracted Arctic conditions over Christmas and the New Year. The IFI has also revealed that a whopping €224 million was paid throughout the country after the latest cold spell led to almost 30,000 claims, with Counties Cork, Galway and Dublin the worst affected. This was the third severe spell in a 14-month period.
According to Westport property manager, Pat Aylward much of the damage could have been easily avoided.
He told The Mayo News that Government must act to prevent a repeat of the destruction to homes and business properties, from burst pipes,
Mr Aylward said that much of the damage to the dozens of properties that fell victim to the buckling and bursting of pipes over Christmas could easily have been avoided if people were educated about simple preventative steps.
During the protracted Arctic spell, temperatures in Mayo were among the coldest recorded in the country, with temperatures regularly dropping to -10 degrees and on two nights dropping to -16 degrees.
“We all remember our grandparents saying to put a bulb in the attic to prevent freezing, but that kind of measure doesn’t work in such conditions,” Pat Aylward said.
He observed that many people – who bought and built houses with en suites – have now paid a high price for the opulence of the Celtic Tiger. These houses have much more extensive piping systems that, can obviously, cause way more damage in the event of a rupture.  
Mr Aylward told The Mayo News that he spent St Stephen’s Day going from stricken house to house with a sledgehammer in order to crack the ice covering manhole covers.
“In the vast majority of cases the tenants were at home but unable to take any action,” he said. “In large urban areas the tap to turn off the mains is under the sink in the kitchen. However, there is a tradition in the west that the stopcock is outside on the footpath.”
In a proactive initiative, Atlantic Property Management offered all its tenants the option of a free plumbing service, if they were going away over the Christmas period. The offer involved a plumber turning off the mains water and draining the system and re-initiating the system on the scheduled return date.
Pat Aylward said: “I couldn’t believe there weren’t ads on the television on St Stephen’s Day. It took three more days before they urged people to check their properties and that was because the reservoirs were getting low.
“There needs to be proactive education by the government and I think it would prove to be revenue neutral because the insurance companies would pay for it. In the long term awareness should be introduced through an in-school educational programme,” he continued.
Mr Aylward added that it was likely that big freeze’s could become the norm during Irish winters in the future and it was important that members of public take measures now during the summer to prevent the same problems arising again during the winter months.