asked the Minister for the Environment if, in view of the serious problems that now exist in relation to motor insurance, he will introduce a scheme whereby insurance discs would be issued to vehicle owners on payment of the insurance premium and owners would be compelled to display the discs publicly on the vehicles as confirmation of insurance.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Motor Insurance.
20.
I have no proposals for the introduction of a scheme whereby an insurance disc would be displayed on motor vehicles as evidence that there is a current insurance on such vehicles.
(Cavan-Monaghan): Would the Minister not consider the whole question of insurance discs and tax discs in the light of the statement made by the Minister for Industry, Commerce and Energy on the 1.30 news programme that it is proposed to reintroduce motor car tax?
I did not hear the statement.
(Cavan-Monaghan): Did the Minister not hear it today?
No.
(Cavan-Monaghan): He will be surprised to hear that his senior colleague, as he was described, stated on the 1.30 news programme that he thinks it would be reasonable to reintroduce car tax. The Minister is aware that he is tipped as the next Minister for Finance.
It is only a partial reintroduction but it will be like creeping paralysis.
Would the Minister approve of it?
No.
(Cavan-Monaghan): Another row in the Cabinet.
It is good to have that on the record.
These are not relevant questions.
Does the Minister accept there is a problem in relation to the question of insurance? Apparently there are a growing number of drivers on the roads without any insurance cover. The Garda and other responsible authorities are extremely concerned about this. Will the Minister give serious consideration to the proposal in the question which may not necessarily be the answer? I would appreciate it if he would give consideration to it. Will he consider introducing a disc which would be displayed on the windscreen of cars or vehicles indicating that they are insured?
There is a difficulty. I have heard the Deputy speak about this on the radio. It was considered at the time of the change to the registration disc. The main difficulty is that a registration disc gives the number of the vehicle which should correspond with the number plate. An insurance certificate insures a driver only. He could be driving other vehicles and not a particular one. There are so many subclauses and so on in an insurance certificate that there are enormous difficulties in devising a disc which would stipulate that the driver was insured to drive a particular car. He could be insured for open driving or anything like that.
Apart from the obvious advantage of the compulsory displaying of a disc naming those drivers insured to drive a car, would such a system not also help the Garda where necessary in respect of identification?
Such a system would be of assistance to the Garda but there is the problem of variation in regard to insurance. The question is far more complicated than it would appear. It is not simply a matter of naming two or three drivers.
Must not a certificate of insurance cover be produced at the time of registering a car?
That is so.
Why, then, is the Minister suggesting that such a scheme would not be possible?
Formerly when a car was being taxed the applicant was required only to produce an insurance certificate that was valid on the day on which the application was being made but that certificate could have expired by the following day.
The problem is highlighted in that reply. Since we have a situation in which an insurance certificate is produced both at the time of first registration and of subsequent re-registrations, should it not be a simple matter to devise a system requiring the production of a certificate for the period for which a vehicle was registered?
In the past the first day of January was the date on which most people taxed their vehicles and it is still the situation that many people register their cars on that day but the problem in regard to what the Deputy is suggesting is that insurance cover can begin on any day of any month. In other words, the system of insurance has never been on a 1 January to 31 December basis. It would not be feasible for an official issuing a registration list to issue also a disc certifying that the vehicle concerned was insured for a specific period from that date.
Regarding the Minister's reply to the question in the first instance and to the difficulty to which he rightly points, that is, that insurance is applicable to individuals, would he be prepared to give thought to the type of system that operates in Cork in regard to parking discs whereby there is displayed a disc or what is in effect a certificate on the windscreen of a car which is removable by the driver? I am not asking the Minister at this stage to debate the merits or otherwise of such a system. All I am asking is that he consider sympathetically the idea that there be public identification of the existence of insurance cover.
I agree that it is most desirable that a system be devised to ensure that vehicles are insured. We gave serious consideration to this question at the time of the registration issue.
Will the Minister review the situation?
Yes.
I appeal to the Minister not to hide behind some of the alleged administrative difficulties in regard to this matter.
Hear, hear.
Having regard to the question that is to follow this one, I urge the Minister to recognise the difficulties that face people who have the misfortune to be hit by non-insured vehicles, difficulties that are much more onerous than any which might affect the Department. Will the Minister assure the House that he will not take the administrative and functionally easy way out in regard to this issue as happened in respect of provisional driving licences?
There are thousands of people who would not agree with that last remark.
That move was a declaration of administrative failure. Hopefully, we shall not have a repeat of it.
(Cavan-Monaghan): Hopefully, the Minister for Education will not follow that example and give the Leaving Certificate to somebody who has failed twice.
That would be nice at election time, perhaps.
When we considered this question of the public identification of insurance cover, the proposition did not seem feasible within a reasonable time. Deputy Keating is right and I, too, look forward to the day when we can ensure that every vehicle is insured. I appreciate the point regarding people who are hit by non-insured vehicles and I shall continue my efforts at finding a way of dealing with this problem.
But the Minister must not continue to do merely what the civil servants say he should do.
Will the Minister let us know the outcome of those further investigations?
Yes.
Let us ask not how it cannot be done but how it can be done.
That is my approach.
21.
asked the Minister for the Environment the plans, if any, to amend, update and improve arrangements in regard to the Motor Insurers Bureau in view of the many instances of considerable injustice suffered by individuals as a result of the actions of uninsured drivers.
So far as I am aware, the Motor Insurers Bureau scheme is working satisfactorily. I have no proposals at present to amend the agreement with the bureau.
Is the Minister prepared to accept the difficulties that arise because of drivers not being insured, especially when such persons cannot be traced after being involved in accidents.
I am aware of these difficulties but the Motor Insurers Bureau scheme seems to work quite well. However, if there are specific cases which the Deputy has in mind, I should like to hear of them.
By way of clarfication I should say that one of the primary motivations in my putting down the question related to the problem of the hit-and-run driver who causes substantial injury to an innocent person who is virtually without legal rights of any kind in regard to compensation and who must accept an ex gratia payment——
The Deputy is making a statement.
——of a nominal nature and who in that situation has to bear his own cost and expenses. Is there not an injustice here that should be remedied?
In certain circumstances the bureau make ex gratia payments.
Am I right in assuming that they pay only in respect of injuries to people as opposed to, say, the loss of a car?
They pay in respect of third party injuries but not in respect of property.
In that case how can the Minister be satisfied with a situation in which a person might walk away from a wrecked vehicle that had crashed into a dwelling, for example, and which had caused enormous damage though not causing serious injury? In such circumstances there would not be anybody responsible for payment in respect of the damages involved.
This bureau have not been in operation for very long. They came into existence only in the sixties as protection against people who were not insured but who caused injury to others. Though the scheme applies only to injured third parties, it is working reasonably well and ex gratia payments are made from time to time.
That is not an answer to my question.
It may not be the ideal situation but the ideal would be that every driver and every car be insured.
Should we not be aiming for the ideal having regard to the number of injustices that result from the present situation? Is it not possible to take steps to ensure that such injustices can at least be minimised in the future?
Of course we would like to minimise hardship in this regard in so far as possible. If the Deputy has knowledge of specific instances of injustices that have resulted from damage caused by vehicles that have not been insured, perhaps he would let us know of them.
I have given one such instance.
I have referred to the problem of the hit-and-run driver.
We seem to be wasting a lot of time arguing across the floor but I shall allow Deputy Fitzpatrick a final supplementary.
(Cavan-Monaghan): Will the Minister accept that this scheme has not been either improved or modified since its introduction in the sixties which means that if one happens to have a car which is worth up to £8,000 and which is damaged beyond repair by a non-insured vehicle, there is no way in which the injured party can recover any of that loss? Is that a reasonable situation in this day and age when cars are so expensive?
A decision in that regard is one that would have to be taken by the Motor Insurers Bureau since they are the people who fund the scheme.
(Cavan-Monaghan): Surely the Minister is not of the opinion that the insurance companies will take the initiative in regard to shouldering further financial responsibility unless he takes the first step in that direction.
I am prepared to begin discussions with them in regard to improving the scheme but I cannot say how successful such discussions might be.
The remaining questions will appear on tomorrow's Order Paper.