Things are getting ugly in the beauty industry. Hundreds of beauty salons could be forced to close tomorrow as beauticians find themselves without insurance cover from today.

It follows the inability of the beauticians' representative association to renegotiate group cover after their current scheme expired. Many salons will be left without professional liability insurance for treatments, such as electrolysis, facials and sun-bed tanning.

One of the Republic's better-known beauticians, Ms Celia Larkin, who has two salons in Dublin called Beauty at Blue Door, said she had been forced to find alternative insurance cover.

"I've been fortunate as I have found cover, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to open my salons on Saturday because I wouldn't have had cover for treatment," the Taoiseach's partner told The Irish Times.

She said she thought it would be particularly difficult for the smaller salons in rural areas, which were often run by one person.

"I'm sure quite a number of beauty salons will be closed on Saturday," she said.

The Society of Applied Cosmetology, which has almost 1,000 members, wrote to members of its group insurance scheme earlier this week, informing them that it had been unable to negotiate renewal terms for members' policies.

The letter, dated May 27th, told members that "following extensive research and exhaustive investigations" they were unable to negotiate insurance renewals.

Ms Deirdre Dunphy, the president of the society, said the situation arose because their underwriters pulled out of the Republic. She said they were still negotiating and hopeful of a resolution.

Liability insurance is not compulsory for beauticians but those who trade without it put themselves at financial risk according to the Small Firms Association.