Laois council to seek right to be forgotten for cancer survivors

Laois County Council members agreed to call for a mandatory ‘right to be forgotten’ for cancer survivors dealing with life insurance companies. 

Fine Gael Cllr Thomisina Connell raised the issue as she said cancer survivors who are no longer ill are being refused mortgages because they are unable to get life insurance cover. 

She tabled a motion asking “that this Council write to Jennifer Carroll MacNeill TD, Minister of State at the Dept of Finance, with responsibility for Financial Services, Credit Unions and Insurance seeking the enactment of legislation to allow cancer survivors the “right to be forgotten” which at present is a voluntary code of practice agreed by Irish life insurance companies.”

Sinn Fein Cllr Caroline Dwane Stanely supported the motion. She recalled a family she knew who were refused insurance and couldn’t get a mortgage. 

“Cancer is something that no doubt has touched everyone. However, thanks to improvements in treatment and screening programmes over the last number of decades a cancer diagnosis is no longer a terminal one and over 200,000 cancer survivors now live in Ireland having overcome their illness,” said Cllr Connell. 

“Although the rise in survival rates is good news, those who have overcome cancer still face many challenges particularly when they try to obtain various life insurance policies, which are essential when taking out a mortgage to purchase a home. A cancer diagnosis must be declared no matter how long ago someone recovered. For example, an adult taking out a life policy for a mortgage must declare if they had any form of cancer in childhood, which could be decades later,” she said. 

“Many cancer survivors have reported that they cannot even get a quote for a wide range of financial products, life policies, health and travel insurance and are turned away at the first mention of having had cancer, many years after they got the all-clear,” Cllr Connell revealed. 

When surveyed, many survivors who managed to get a quote for a policy, which was simply unaffordable in some cases, experienced discriminatory treatment when applying, being forced to “jump though hoops” with banks, brokers and life insurance companies. 

“Research showed that people who are affected by cancer found banks and insurance providers more difficult to deal with, compared to the rest of the general population. Many were left feeling demoralised. People affected by cancer reported refusal and unfair treatment as the most common difficulties they experienced. This is unacceptable,” she said.  

Cllr Connell said at an EU level steps have been taken to address the unfair treatment.  Cancer Survivors in applying for life insurance and other types of cover such as health and travel insurance will have the ‘Right to be Forgotten’, that their cancer diagnosis will no longer have to be declared after a specified time period. 

“It is essential that these measures are implemented at a national level here in Ireland. We must follow the lead of France, Belgium, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Portugal and Romania who have all introduced legislation for the ‘Right to Be Forgotten’,” she said. 

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Independent Cllr Ollie Clooney congratulated Cllr Connell for raising the issue.  The councillors agreed to write to the Minister seeking the enactment of legislation.