Couple can't get mortgage protection due to husband's successful treatment for cancer

Irish Cancer Society welcomed the new Insurance Ireland code of practice but said it will continue to work for the 'right to be forgotten beyond cancer'. Stock picture

The wife of a man successfully treated for cancer has spoken of her family’s despair at being refused mortgage protection insurance leaving them unable to buy a house even after passing financial tests.

A new code of practice for insurance companies, enacted just this month, means insurers must disregard a cancer diagnosis in cases where an applicant’s treatment ended more than seven years previously.