Irish Life offers free €500m of life cover

Irish Life plans to give up to €500m of life assurance for free for up to 20,000 adults to highlight the importance of having cover.

The company will give cover of €25,000 for a year to 20,000 adults.

Irish Life has also published its findings from a study on customer attitudes to life assurance. Key findings from the survey of 1,000 people include:

* 60% of adults in Ireland do not have life insurance which often means that dependants could face significant financial problems in the event of their death;

* 56% of people say they could struggle financially in the event that something would happen to them. This is an increase of 10% (from 46% to 56%) from March 2011.

* 34% of adults assume the cost of cover is significantly more expensive than it typically is — they assume that €100,000 of cover will cost more than €50 a month.

Gerry Hassett, chief executive, Irish Life Retail, said: "In fact, for €100,000 cover with our Term Life Insurance plan, the price could be less than a third of that amount — just €15 per month for an adult aged 40 or younger, over a 10-year term who is a non-smoker and is in good health.

"Life insurance should be at the core of every family’s financial planning. Last year, Irish Life paid out €83m in death claims to 1,168 families. However, what may surprise people is that over half of this amount, €45m, was paid in respect of people younger than 55 years old, which is the upper age limit on our Free Parent Insurance promotion."