M J O’Neill Insurances Limited was born on a warm summer’s day in June 1974 in Dublin. It’s founders were William McGrory and Matthew James O’Neill, father and grandfather of our current Managing Director, Matt McGrory.
The company began life providing peace of mind to many by insuring their homes, cars, business and lives, and it grew over the next 10 years to become a respected provider of all insurance within the Irish market, employing highly trained, specialist staff.
Over time as the company grew more members of the family joined, Liam McGrory, specialising in Life assurance, Matt McGrory himself and in later years Bernadette McGrory who is now Financial Controller.
Under Matt’s leadership and vision the company moved from its origins in General and Life insurance, with Liam taking Life Assurance/Pensions/Investment business under his own wing in a separate enterprise, and Matt bringing M J O’Neill Insurances into a new exciting era of Marine Pleasure Craft Insurance…..and so Yachtsman was born.
In 1997 M J O’Neill Insurances Limited began trading as Yachtsman. Matt’s own lifetime passion for boats and all things boating inspired the move into the market of marine pleasure craft insurance, offering expert marine insurance to the Irish market.
By 2007 Yachtsman had grown to be a major insurer in the marine sector in Ireland. It was in this year that M J O’Neill Insurances Limited took over Euromarine Limited to become the largest provider of Marine Insurance in the Irish market, and so Yachtsman Euromarine came into being.
2007 also saw Yachtsman Euromarine became a Coverholder with Lloyds of London, thereby opening the door to us to develop our own pleasure craft insurance products and market these under the brand name of Yachtsman Euromarine. At this point research shows that we had over 12,000 clients insured.
Approximately 70% of our clients deal with us directly, however we also supply to over 205 general insurance brokers around the country. We also underwrite dedicated schemes for members of the Inland Waterways Association of Ireland and the Irish Sailing Association. We are regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland and have ‘Passporting Rights’ to transact business in all EU countries.
2012 saw the next big move for M J O’Neill Insurances Limited with the opening of our first office in Spain, beginning the move for the company into the European market. This move has provided the base for extensive growth for this small family owned Irish company into the huge marine market of the Spanish, French, Italian, Croatian and Northern European regions. We now do business in all of these countries, and many more besides.
From that day in Dublin in 1974, M J O’Neill Insurances Limited T/A Yachtsman Euromarine now employs a multi-lingual, highly trained workforce at its base in Naas Co Kildare and at its bases in Spain, and provides peace of mind still to many thousands of Irish, UK, and European boat owners who are passionate about their boats.
As we write this in 2020, that small Irish company, started by our grandfather and our father, now trades in Ireland, France, Belgium, Sweden, Germany, Italy, Croatia, Spain, Portugal, Malta, Cech Republic and Poland. One thing hasn’t changed though, we are proud to say we are still a family company.
