Sir, - Your Dail report of October 7th stated that the Taoiseach was considering a suggestion that a leaflet on the Year 2000 problem be issued to every household in the State. The insurance implications of failure of house alarms were specifically mentioned. I would like to clarify the situation for your readers.
Most household security alarms are unlikely to be affected by the Year 2000 problem as they generally store dates by day and month only, so there is no year date to go wrong. If a household alarm has a year date or if the householder is unsure, the best thing to do is to check with the alarm maintenance company.
Household insurance policies do not provide insurance cover for damage to a household appliance which breaks down or fails to work properly. However, if there is further damage or loss as a result of the failure of some piece of household equipment due to the Year 2000 problem, the householder will be covered against the usual perils. So, if a burglary occurs after the failure of a house alarm, the householder will be able to claim for the burglary but not for the cost of fixing or replacing the burglar alarm.
Member companies of the Irish Insurance Federation have been including notices about the Year 2000 problem with the renewal documents they send out to policy-holders for a number of months. The IIF also produced a leaflet at the beginning of this year entitled "Year 2000 - Your Insurance Guide", 600,000 of which have so far been printed and distributed to policyholders. The leaflet gives useful tips to householders about the Year 2000 problem, including which household appliances are likely to be affected and which are not, the insurance implications of the problem and where to go for further information. Copies are available from our Insurance Information Service at (01) 676 1914. - Yours, etc.,
Michael Kemp, Chief Executive, Irish Insurance Federation, Molesworth Street, Dublin 2.