The Cover Note

Writing on the business of broking.

Renewals, compliance and the admin that eats a broker’s week, from the team building Aoibhe. Irish and UK.

Latest · 6 Aug 2026

From Boston Pub to Broker Tool: How Aoibhe Came to Be

Aoibhe did not start here. It started in a Boston pub and a product that insurer portals could not support. This is the honest account of what we built, what broke, and why we moved to the data brokers already control.

6 Aug 2026Chris O'Sullivan2 min read

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8 Oct 2026

Budget 2027: higher wages make an insurance review worth doing

Ireland's minimum wage is set to rise from €14.15 to €14.94 an hour in January 2027. See what that adds to a small business's wage bill, and why it makes an insurance review worth doing before renewal.

8 Oct 2026Chris O'Sullivan4 min read

29 Sept 2026

Which business clients count as consumers under the 2025 Consumer Protection Code? A broker's decision tree

Does Ireland’s Consumer Protection Code 2025 cover your business client? A broker’s guide to legal form, €5m turnover, group companies and the client file.

29 Sept 2026Chris O'Sullivan5 min read

20 Sept 2026

The Consumer Protection Code deadline is real. Your admin stack is how you'll pass it.

The revised Code applied from 24 March 2026. Most brokerages got through the deadline the way firms always do. The harder part is the evidence exercise that follows, and it lands hardest on small firms.

20 Sept 2026Chris O'Sullivan3 min read

6 Sept 2026

Public liability insurance in Ireland: what business owners ask their broker

Public liability is usually the first insurance an Irish business buys and the one owners understand least. What it covers, what it costs, how much cover you actually need, and the questions worth asking at renewal.

6 Sept 2026Chris O'Sullivan4 min read

23 Aug 2026

What commercial insurance actually costs in Ireland

The Central Bank publishes real market data through the NCID and almost nobody outside the industry reads it. What the average package policy costs, what each cover costs inside it, and why premiums are still rising at half the rate they were.

23 Aug 2026Chris O'Sullivan4 min read

9 Aug 2026

What is an AI-native insurance brokerage?

The label started appearing in trade press around 2025 and gets used loosely. A straight definition: what AI-native means operationally, what it does not mean, and where Ireland actually stands.

9 Aug 2026Chris O'Sullivan3 min read

7 Aug 2026

How Irish Brokerages Are Using AI to Cut the Admin Out of Renewals

Irish brokerages are replacing manual, error-prone workflows with AI tools for data cleansing, IMC checks and motor checks. Here is what that looks like in practice.

7 Aug 2026Aoibhe4 min read

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