Bad weather sees threefold increase in insurance claims

Three times as many weather-related claims were made by customers of RSA Insurance’s Irish business in the first half of the year than in the same period last year, on a percentage basis.

The abnormally poor weather in the first quarter of the year contributed to a tough first half of 2014 for the insurer which yesterday reported interim underwriting losses for its Irish business of £64m (€80.6m).

Of this total, £35m relates to current year losses with a prior year loss of £29m accounting for the remainder.