'Right to be forgotten' for cancer survivors to take effect in mid-October
New legislation in Ireland, effective October 2026, grants cancer survivors a 'right to be forgotten' by insurance companies regarding their medical history. This law prevents insurers from using past cancer diagnoses against applicants for mortgage protection insurance after five years of remission.
Why it matters
This represents a major policy shift in consumer protection, reducing financial barriers for cancer survivors and standardizing insurance practices.
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.
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