(pic left to right: Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill TD & David Fitzgerald CEO of MIBI)
Last week the MIBI held a very positive meeting with Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill TD.
David Fitzgerald, CEO of the MIBI met with Minister Carroll MacNeill, who is the Minister of State with responsibility for Financial Services, Credit Unions and Insurance in the Department of Finance.
The purpose of the meeting was to discuss uninsured driving.
David Fitzgerald outlined the key facts on this topic, drawing on the MIBI’s recently published research highlighting the almost 188,000 uninsured private vehicles on Irish roads, representing 1 in every 12 private vehicles.
Details on the European comparison were also discussed, with Ireland having potentially the highest level of uninsured private vehicles in the EU and our rate representing 4 times the EU average and 3 times the level in the UK.
The Minister outlined her support for the need to tackle the extremely high level of uninsured driving, as well as the new Irish Motor Insurance Database (IMID) and its use in conjunction with ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) technology which will enable the Gardaí to more easily identify vehicles being driven without insurance.
She also expressed her expectation that the Road Traffic and Roads Bill 2021 – the piece of legislation that will enable the use of IMID and ANPR – will complete its passage through the Oireachtas and become law in the coming weeks.
There was additional dialogue on the MIBI’s efforts to ensure the costs associated with accidents caused by uninsured drivers were recovered from those responsible. As the MIBI is a not for profit organisation, all the costs associated with compensating the victims of these accidents effectively come from the law abiding motorists. Some ideas for how that recovery process could be further strengthened were also discussed.
The MIBI strongly welcomed the opportunity to have such a progressive, engaging meeting with the Minister and greatly appreciated her providing her time and support.
We look forward to working with her over the coming months to advance some of the matters discussed and to further advance the battle against uninsured driving in this country.