Politics

How the Irish insurance industry is punishing cancer survivors

The insurance industry is pushing back against proposed laws that would stop cancer survivors having to disclose their medical history for financial products

Ciarán Pollard, who was diagnosed with cancer in 2016 and subsequently given the all-clear, has been trying to get a mortgage since 2020. Picture: Fergal Phillips

Ciarán Pollard was on holiday with friends in Greece in 2016 when he developed a pain in his back that he presumed to be a simple muscle strain. The pain hadn’t subsided by the time he got home to Ireland, so the then 32-year-old was sent for an MRI scan by his doctor.

The scan uncovered a cancerous tumour in Pollard’s spinal column, and the prognosis was not good. His doctors advised him to go ...