What commercial insurance actually costs in Ireland

Every broker we work with hears the same first question from a business owner. What should this actually cost? The honest answer is usually "it depends", but since 2021 the Central Bank of Ireland has published real market data through its National Claims Information Database, and almost nobody outside the industry reads it. Here is what it says, in plain English.

The headline numbers (2024, published December 2025)

The average Irish commercial insurance package policy, the bundled product most SMEs buy, cost €3,043 in 2024. That is up 3.9% on 2023 and up 23% since 2020.

Package policies typically combine public liability, employers' liability and commercial property, though not every package carries all three. Across the policies that included each cover, the average premium for that element in 2024 was:

Those figures do not add up to €3,043, and they are not supposed to. Each is an average across the policies carrying that cover, not a slice of a single bill. The Central Bank also cautions that package pricing is often done at policy level, so the split between covers on your schedule may not reflect what each one actually costs to insure.

Two facts put the averages in context. 90% of Irish commercial policies cost less than €5,000 a year, so the market is overwhelmingly small premiums. And the top 2% of policies, those above €25,000, account for 58% of all premium. A small number of large risks carry the market.

The trend: still rising, but the brakes are on

The 2022 spike has roughly halved over two years. Prices are still going up, but at half the rate they were.

Internationally the picture is stronger than that. Marsh's global index has now recorded eight consecutive quarters of falling commercial rates, down 6% in Q2 2026, with European rates down 6% and property down 12%. Irish businesses should not expect price drops, because Ireland lags global cycles by some margin, but the steep post-2020 climb has clearly flattened.

One more number worth knowing. Irish insurers made an operating profit after tax of 10% of total income on these lines in 2024, against a 2.1% average across 2010 to 2024. The market is profitable right now, and profitable markets attract capacity. Capacity is what softens prices.

Why your premium differs from the average

The averages hide enormous spread. What actually moves an individual premium:

Sector. The Alliance for Insurance Reform's 2025 survey of 775 businesses and community groups found one in five had only a single underwriter willing to quote, concentrated in leisure, play and activity sectors. One quote means no negotiating power. The same survey found 67% had picked up added exclusions, higher excesses, or both.

Claims history. In 2024, 71% of employers' and public liability injury claimants settled through litigation rather than the Injuries Resolution Board. For litigated claims settling under €150,000, legal costs averaged €25,055 against compensation of €25,935, so the lawyers cost about as much as the claimant received. Those claims also take 5.7 years to settle on average, against 1.8 years for claims settled directly. A single litigated claim follows a business for years of renewals.

Wage roll and turnover. Employers' and public liability are priced on these. Growth raises premium even with no claims.

How the risk is presented. Two identical businesses can get materially different terms depending on how completely and accurately their risk reaches underwriters. This, rather than shopping harder, is where good broking earns its keep. It is also the part of broking that changes most when a firm automates its administration, which we cover in what an AI-native insurance brokerage actually is.

What business owners can actually do

Three things in the data are actionable.

If your premium has risen and your claims record has not changed, ask your broker to evidence the increase. Package rates rose 3.9% last year against 7.7% two years ago, and global rates have fallen for eight straight quarters. Those are negotiating facts.

If you got one quote at your last renewal, ask whether your risk was presented to the wholesale and MGA markets or only to the household-name insurers. One in five businesses are in the single-quote position, and some of them do not need to be.

And check your property sums insured. Rebuild costs have moved a long way since 2020, underinsurance is widespread, and the averaging clause in a commercial policy makes it expensive at exactly the wrong moment.

Sources: Central Bank NCID Employers' Liability, Public Liability and Commercial Property Report 5 (2024 data, published December 2025) · NCID liability premium open data · Alliance for Insurance Reform 2025 survey · Marsh Global Insurance Market Index Q2 2026.