FOXHUNTING, like many facets of Irish life is recovering after the double whammy of the pandemic and the issue of hunting and point-to-point insurance. Thankfully the pandemic is over and it seems extremely unlikely that we will be in a lock-down situation in the near future. Thankfully also, those with responsibility for negotiating an appropriate insurance product for hunt clubs and covering all their related activities have been very successful and they should be applauded for their great efforts. We now have a clear path forward.

In a practical sense, hunt clubs have been provided with their policy document and a certificate of insurance, we have public liability and employer’s liability included, there is a new incident report form which must be completed in the event that an accident occurs at any hunt club function or activities that may give rise to a claim, and all hunt clubs have been asked to review their health and safety statement and risk assessment documentation to ensure that documentation is up to date and includes all of the hunt club’s activities.

Group insurance policy

A Personal Accident policy is available through brokers for hunt clubs participating in the group insurance policy, this is a separate policy which provides financial compensation if an employee/volunteer is out of work on a short term or permanent basis. A new waiver is being designed and will be available in due course but until then the existing waiver will suffice provided it was signed by the hunt member and witnessed by a solicitor. If there are waivers out there that haven’t been witnessed by a solicitor then this needs to be done now.

Contact the Irish Masters of Foxhounds Association for more information.