Dublin City Business Improvement District (BID), today announces it has teamed up with First Ireland, a leading independent insurance broker, to provide a group insurance scheme for its 2,500 members. The scheme allows members to avail of reductions of 20% on their existing premium. A 60% take-up of the scheme would translate into an overall potential annual saving of €1.2m for Dublin City BID members.
According to new data provided by Dublin City Business Improvement District (BID) and First Ireland Insurance Brokers, members of the city centre BID area will spend an estimated €10m on insurance premiums for their businesses annually. This figure looks set to rise even further with rate increases being sought by insurers across all classes of business. This comes at a time when trading conditions are tougher than ever and businesses are seeking to cuts costs wherever they can.
Dublin City BID has responded to the rising cost of business for its members by negotiating a new group scheme with leading insurance broker First Ireland. As well as significantly reducing insurance premiums, the scheme will also afford BID members access to free, independent, expert advice on a range of financial and insurance related matters.
In addition, First Ireland will reinvest circa 5% of all premium income from the scheme into a special fund to be used to promote Dublin city centre. This fund is expected to top €1 million over four years.
Dublin City BID’s CEO Richard Guiney has urged Dublin city centre businesses to avail of this scheme to ensure adequate insurance cover at an affordable price.
“Our members are facing extremely challenging trading conditions with recent research indicating that consumer spending over Christmas this year could have been down by as much as 10% this year. We need to ensure that we help our members make additional savings wherever possible and are delighted to be able to bring this offer to them. This partnership with First Ireland is a significant milestone for us because it demonstrates how businesses can achieve substantial cost savings when we use our collective economic muscle to bargain together.”
Commenting on the partnership with Dublin City BID, Conor Lyons Director of, First Ireland said: “First Ireland is delighted to be working in partnership with Dublin City BID and looking forward to delivering substantial savings to the members. We will also be helping to support businesses in the BID area by providing a promotional fund equivalent to 5% of scheme turnover. It is expected that this fund will exceed €1,000,000 over the next 4 years at a time when marketing & promotion budgets are under such pressure.”
This is a model Dublin City BID aims to apply across other utilities and expenses faced by its members.