Taking work outside the Republic? How far does your Irish public liability cover travel

Most Irish small businesses have to do some work in another jurisdiction at some point. It could be a booking over the border or a trade fair abroad. It's very important for such businesses to know if the public liability follows you there.

It varies depending on where the work is performed and also depends on where a claim would have to be filed in some cases. So here's what that looks like for a Westmeath-based business.

Taking a booking across the border is a normal part of trading

Westmeath businesses are around two hours from Belfast, so Northern Ireland bookings, markets and events come up like any other local job. You agree on a date with a customer and take the deposit, and then the venue or event organiser asks you to show proof of public liability insurance.

Does your Irish policy cover you when you work abroad? The answer is in one line of your policy documents, but many business owners don't check it until a booking is at risk.

A job in Northern Ireland sits inside the covered territory

A booking in Northern Ireland is covered by the insurance. Insify's public liability cover in Ireland is valid throughout the EU plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland, and the UK, including Northern Ireland. Business trips are also covered anywhere in the world, excluding any claims unless they are brought in the United States or Canada.

That entire area is covered, and inside it is a photographer from Moate covering an event in Lisburn, as she would be on an assignment in Athlone. So there's no ambiguity in terms of whether the border counts.

Further afield, the rule that matters is where a claim is brought

A good example is that photographer with three jobs in the next week. The policy covers corporate day in Derry and market weekend in Bavaria as they both fall within the defended territory.

But it is not the same with the Chicago trade fair. If your job occurs anywhere else in the world, business trips are covered, but a claim made in the US or Canada and a claim made under the law of either country are excluded. The test is at which location and under what law a claim is made.

It requires minimal effort to set up the cover. Insify doesn’t use a broker and sells online public liability cover in Ireland from €7.55 a month, with cancellation any day.

Premises outside the covered territory are not insured

The policy does not cover business premises outside the agreed area, like a second base in the USA. The cover reflects the work and the travels in the territory, but having a permanent address far away is outside the parameters. Any business could only really look at a base like that as a question in isolation.

From €7.55 a month, Insify's public liability goes with an Irish small business to Belfast, Barcelona or Oslo, and stops where a claim is brought in the USA or Canada.