NEW LAWS PREVENTING insurance companies from using cancer survivors’ medical history against them will take effect from 15 October 2026.

A ‘right to be forgotten’ in insurance policies has been called for by cancer survivors, their families and campaigners for years, who have long argued that it is unfair for insurance companies to take cancer diagnoses into account years after a person has entered remission.

The legislation means insurers will be required to disregard cancer-related medical history when a person applying for mortgage protection insurance has completed active cancer treatment for five years and been in complete remission for five years.

The application must relate to mortgage protection insurance cover of up to €650,000 for the applicant’s principal private residence.

In 2023, Insurance Ireland announced a new code of practice that outlined that insurers should disregard cancer diagnoses where treatment had ended more than seven years before an application.

Under that Code, cancer diagnoses were disregarded after seven years from treatment completion, or after five years when the individual was under 18 at diagnosis, for mortgage protection insurance up to €500,000.

The new legislation builds on the voluntary code to provide greater consumer protections by placing it on a statutory footing for the first time.

It also reduces the end of active cancer treatment period and remission period to five years regardless of age at diagnosis, and increases the cover threshold.

Tánaiste Simon Harris described the legislation as a “major milestone” in delivering statutory protections for cancer survivors.

“People who have come through cancer have continued to face barriers when buying a home, switching a mortgage, or seeking security for their families, even years after their treatment had ended,” he said in a statement.

“From 15 October, that will change, and eligible cancer survivors will have a clear statutory right to have their cancer-related medical history disregarded when applying for mortgage protection insurance for their home.”