“I AM afraid of it, there is so much negatively around it, I am very very afraid,” said Mayo hotelier Michael Lennon when asked what he expects when his insurance comes up for renewal. Lennon runs Go Trekking Equestrian Holidays Ireland alongside his Westport Woods Hotel in Westport, Co Mayo.

He is a recent past president of the Irish Hotels Federation and an active member of Westport Chamber. Lennon said there was no leniency on his insurance for Covid-19. “That is a major problem. On one of the policies I have; there are 35 notifiable diseases listed, I think 12 of them are viruses, but the company that underwrites us wrote back to our broker and said that business interruption didn’t apply to Covid-19, even though one of the notifiable diseases is the plague.

“The reason they gave when they came back, they said yes, this pandemic is similar to plague, but the plague is bacteria-formed and Covid-19 is a virus…that was their response.”

Lennon added: “There is a committee working in government, with high-ranking ministers, and they are looking at the broader area of insurance. Leo Varadkar is leading it up with Helen McEntee, the Minister for Justice. The previous Minister for Justice wasn’t pushing this agenda. I know I have lobbied Michael McGrath on the duty of care and he is taking it seriously.

Lobby

“Members of the Association of Irish Riding Establishments (AIRE), and as a representative of the Hotel Federation, we have to keep lobbying and pushing. Every politician should realise that businesses are being shut. I don’t see the change is happening quick enough. We need more action from Government. And we need a culture change in Irish society – we can’t be claiming for everything.”

On other issues affecting tourism, Lennon said: “The Government could have done more on the VAT; and we only got six months moratorium on the rates, but businesses are going to back 60%. It is going to be a tough time.”

Brendan Kenny, CEO of Ireland’s Association for Adventure Tourism (IAAT), the representative for adventure tourism in Ireland, said the association are lobbying the Government on the point that insurance needs to be part of the recovery from Covid-19.

Approximately 35 equestrian businesses are part of the IAAT. “We are trying to get a group scheme off the ground for our members. By going to the insurance markets with significant numbers of businesses, it will allow us to get competitive quotes and access to insurance markets that are not currently available in Ireland,” Kenny explained.

“We work closely with AIRE and, from insurance perspective, we are working with Michael [Lennon] to see what is the best solution for equestrian businesses. Covid-19 has been such a massive, massive challenge. It is an unprecedented event, but the insurance issue can be solved. We need the political appetite to get it resolved.

“Collaboration is what is going to get us through this crisis. Tourism is the largest indigenous industry we have in the country; its contribution is often missed. We have to position ourselves that we are competitive when the international market opens back up, that we have an industry for people to come back to Ireland,” Kenny added.