Uninsured drivers kill 20 people each year and leave a further 2,000 others seriously injured, according to a new estimate from the Motor Insurers' Bureau of Ireland (MIBI).
The data is contained in a submission to the Department of Transport outlining the problems caused by this group of drivers.
According to the MIBI, an estimated 100,000 drivers in Ireland are uninsured, or 6 per cent of all motorists on Irish roads. This is a far higher percentage than in most European states, where the equivalent figure is just 2 per cent, according to the MIBI.
The bureau blames the high level of uninsured driving in the Republic on the low level of fines imposed for the offence, and the absence of a central database holding accurate insurance information which the Garda can access at roadside checkpoints. It adds that windscreen insurance discs are easily forged.
In its submission, the MIBI has also revealed details of claims arising from more than 1,100 crashes involving vehicles insured outside the State.
Last year, there were 395 claims involving vehicles from Britain; 194 crashes involving vehicles insured in Poland and 131 claims involving vehicles insured in Lithuania.
The remaining crashes involved vehicles registered in France, Germany, the Netherlands and Latvia.
The bureau also warned that there is evidence that large numbers of foreign registered vehicles appear to be retaining their domestic registration and are renewing their insurance in their home country. In such cases, there is potential for a foreign insurer to refuse to pay a claim on the basis that the driver is now resident in Ireland and had provided incorrect residency information, the MIBI says.
In 2006, the €58.6 million cost of insurance payouts to drivers involved in a crash with an uninsured driver on Irish roads was met by an estimated €45 increase in the cost of every premium in the State. Last year, the MIBI settled 2,270 claims, with an average cost per claim of €25,818.
The MIBI notes that the European Commission's motor insurance directives require the State to develop an accurate central insurance database on every vehicle in the State.
This project - known as the information centre - "is still seriously deficient" due to problems with the National Vehicle and Driver File (NVDF), says the MIBI, and that this directive will lead to a significant increase in the level of enquiries to the information centre, meaning that the "issue of a current and accurate insurance register will become more serious".
The Irish Insurance Federation (IIF) has also brought problems with the NDVF to the attention of the Department and has recommended that responsibility for the database be given to the Road Safety Authority.
It says a project to develop an accurate national information centre to meet the EU requirements, stalled due to "a lack of engagement" by NDVF staff in Shannon, was part of the Department of the Environment at the time. Responsibility for the NDVF transferred to the Department of Transport after the May General Election.
The IIF says it was unable to proceed with a pilot project on a virtual information centre, which would have allowed gardaí to instantly cross-check whether a vehicle was insured, because of a lack of co-operation from the NDVF. According to the IIF, the benefits of such a system would allow more targeted enforcement of uninsured driving. It would also allow Customs to improve monitoring of imported vehicles and registered cars driven in Ireland.
