The Tánaiste, Ms Harney, raised the unlikely spectre of rogue building companies being refused insurance cover, while those with good safety records secured reduced premiums, at yesterday's hearing of the Oireachtas Committee on Enterprise and Small Businesses.
The threat will cut little ice with scoundrels from the construction sector who normally avoid such costs. And the insurance industry is reluctant to deliver early benefits to compliant companies.
The Minister was on safer ground when she undertook to have the Personal Injuries Assessment Board (PIAB) in operation by the beginning of next year.
Initially, the PIAB will deal with uncontested claims involving employers' liability. But its work, which is designed to reduce the cost of legal fees, will later be extended to other areas. Ms Harney predicted "enormous reductions" in premiums.
Later, the Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, promised to give the Garda Síochána powers to seize uninsured vehicles, for second or subsequent offences, in an effort to make Irish roads safer and to bring down the cost of insurance. The announcement prompted the question as to why this penalty was not imposed years ago. It was provided for under the Road Traffic Act of 1994 and only required a ministerial order to give effect to it.
There are an estimated 80,000 uninsured vehicles on Irish roads and the cost they generate in accident claims has been put at 90 million annually. That cost has been reckoned by the Motor Insurance Advisory Board as adding 10 per cent to the price of insurance premiums. The number of claims involving uninsured drivers tripled between 1995 and 2001. And the penalty points system, introduced since then, has had no effect in encouraging such motorists to obey the law. Drivers of uninsured vehicles have no fear of penalties that may result in higher insurance premiums or the loss of a licence. Many of them calculate that any fines imposed by the courts, following detection by the gardaí, would be less expensive than the cost of insurance.
There was an element of political hype and competition for headlines involved in the presentations. Ministers have been criticised by the Opposition parties at committee hearings for failing to act with sufficient speed and vigour in tackling the soaring cost of insurance. Only a small proportion of the recommendations made 15 months ago by the Motor Insurance Advisory Board has yet been implemented. But a number of Bills will be introduced in the autumn. And it is hoped that a broad package of reforms will be in place by early next year.