Motor insurance reform hinges on 'political will'

The decision on who is appointed Minister for Justice and Minister for the Environment in the new government will be crucial to whether the recommendations of the Motor Insurance Advisory Board (MIAB) are implemented, according to the board's chairwoman.

Asked if she believed the political will existed to implement the changes recommended, Ms Dorothea Dowling said yesterday this depended on the commitment or otherwise of the two new ministers. The justice system needs to be "radically overhauled", she said. The Minister for the Environment would be needed to act in relation to accidents.

Most of the recommendations made by the board require government action. "At this stage it is a question of political will to take on the vested interests."

The implementation group set up to monitor the response to the board's recommendations held its first meeting on April 24th and has had two further meetings since. The group will report to the government three months after the date of its first meeting.

Ms Dowling said the public posturing of some bodies regarding the report was "very different" to their activities behind the scenes.

Addressing the Dún Laoghaire Rathdown Chamber of Commerce May Luncheon, she said the Law Society had welcomed the report but had refused to meet the board when the report was being prepared. Since its publication, the society had published an article in its gazette by its director general, Mr Ken Murphy, entitled Statistics and Propaganda.

In it he said that members of the MIAB had vested interests in the matter. Ms Dowling said this was "a bit rich".

She said the Hibernian insurance company's managing director, Mr Gary Owens, had written a letter to all TDs which was headed "Do You Have the Full Story?". She believed the full story was in the MIAB's 750-page report rather than in the two-page letter.

Ms Dowling said the report of the MIAB had been given to the Competition Authority and it, with its new powers, would now be able to pursue the matter further "if only to allay public concern". She said that if motor insurance cover was to be compulsory, it must be open to scrutiny.

The board in its report found that the Republic came about mid-way down an EU league in terms of road safety.

Countries with some of the worst safety records have the lowest premiums.

The problem in Ireland was not the number of road accidents but the cost of claims. Compensation levels here are 12 times those of the UK. Legal costs are four times those of the UK.

For every €1 paid in compensation, there is 40 cents in overheads. "We all may be paying more than double what is needed for our insurance."

Ms Dowling asked why the insurance companies were not jumping up and down about what had been disclosed. The reason might be because high claims actually suited insurance companies, she said.

Insurance companies make their profits not from underwriting but from investing money they hold for the period before it is paid out on claims. Lower claims and related lower premiums would mean the companies had less to invest.

Ms Dowling also said that if claims and premiums were reduced by half, then the size of payments to management, as a percentage of turnover, would double.

She said most of the time during the three years of the MIAB inquiry was spent trying to get raw data from the insurance industry.

Ms Dowling said consumers were justifiably annoyed at what they were being asked to pay for motor insurance.