Full coverage: Pubs

For the past three weeks, four pubs have taken on FBD Insurance in a High Court test case of enormous consequence. They are challenging the insurer's refusal to pay out on claims arising from the pandemic. Millions of euro, and livelihoods, are at stake.

The test case of four publicans challenging the insurer's refusal to pay business interruption losses hears pandemic cover would be "highly unusual" for a mainstream insurer like FBD.

Avello, which runs some of Waterford’s best-known bars and nightclubs, has sought court protection from its creditors. An examiner has now been mandated to restructure the company’s debts and source new investment.

Mellett's pub has been trading for 223 years. Now, the family-owned business must endure the impact of the global health crisis. Marie Mellett, the current family member running the pub, talks about the importance of survival and why social distancing may not work in a pub like hers.

It emerged in the course of the discovery proceedings in the escalating battle between pubs and FBD that a fire broke out in 2015 at FBD’s storage facility destroying archival hard copy records.

Publican Chris Kelly is claiming losses of €3m on one pub alone. The owners of the Lep Inn say that FBD told them they were covered, only to later renege. Both argue that the Irish insurer has changed its defence multiple times.

The insurer has sought to reassure investors as its battle with a small army of publicans intensifies. It is also seeking to draw focus to government, saying the only way insurers could fund pandemic cover would involve a state pooling arrangement.

Sean’s Bar in Athlone dates back to 900 AD, when a man named Luain established an inn on the site. A regular watering hole for visiting celebrities, it has launched High Court proceedings against FBD over Covid-19 compensation.