The pace at which the Tánaiste has moved to fulfil her election promises on insurance reform is commendable. The publication of the Motor Insurance Advisory Board report last April had the whiff of an election promise that would be quietly shelved.
Some six months later the Government has unveiled a comprehensive plan to implement the recommendations of the MIAB and a number of related initiatives. In the scheme of such things this represents speedy action.
The way in which the Tánaiste has chosen to deliver on her commitments is also worthy of note.
The plan to implement the MIAB recommendations identifies the "stakeholder" responsible for each of its 67 initiatives. It also gives a deadline and a figure for what the impact on insurance costs would be. Reductions totalling 31 per cent may be possible.
The theory is that if - come this time next year - the cost of insurance has not come down, or at least stabilised, we should know why. The foot-draggers will need good excuses, and the legal profession can be expected to be amongst them.
The extension of this approach to the delivery of Government policy commitments in areas such as health and education, would be worthy of consideration.
It will not be so easy to monitor progress on the other aspects of the strategy announced last week under the slogan Driving Insurance Reform. The plan to establish the Personal Injuries Assessment Board on a statutory footing contains no deadline. Instead the language describing what is envisaged is loaded with the ambiguous phraseology and woolly timelines that we have come to associate with difficult policy initiatives.
Some comfort can be drawn from the appointment of Ms Dorothea Dowling as chairperson of the interim board that is charged with preparing the ground so the board can hit the ground running once it is established on a statutory basis. If Ms Dowling approaches her task with the same gusto she has shown in steering the Motor Insurance Advisory Board, then rapid progress towards reducing the cost of delivering compensation is on the cards.
The final plank of the strategy unveiled by the Tánaiste is the study being undertaken by her Department and the Competition Authority into the insurance market. Amongst other issues it will ask why there are not more foreign insurers willing to underwrite business in Ireland. The flip side to this - and hopefully it will be addressed - is whether or not there has been a quasi cartel in operation. ...
Taken in the round, the Government's strategy offers a real prospect of progress.
Crucially, it can't make things any worse. The acid test as to how effective it will be is the direction that insurance premiums take over the next 12 months.