Brokers call for review of foreign car guidelines

The association representing more than 500 insurance intermediaries regulated by the Financial Regulator has called on the Government…

The association representing more than 500 insurance intermediaries regulated by the Financial Regulator has called on the Government to review current guidelines which allow vehicles insured under policies registered abroad to use the roads here.

The Government has been urged by a Fianna Fáil TD to introduce legislation that would allow gardaí to immediately impound uninsured cars driven by foreign nationals in a bid to cut down on road crashes.

The director of general services for the Irish Brokers Association, Stuart Reid, said there was an increasing risk that people in collisions involving non-national drivers would not receive adequate compensation from the other motorist's insurance.

Many non-nationals driving in Ireland used insurance policies from companies in their home countries.

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He said that in such circumstances, the level of cover which those companies were required to provide to car crash victims was significantly lower than would be the case with Irish companies.

Cork North Central Fianna Fáil TD Noel O'Flynn expressed concern about the large number of left-hand drive cars being driven by foreign nationals which were completely unsuited to the roads here and the numbers of foreign nationals speeding and drink-driving.

"I'm talking about people who are legally here and they are more than welcome, but they have to start observing the Irish rules of the road," he said.

"What I want is a level playing pitch where foreign drivers are subject to exactly the same rules as Irish drivers."

Mr O'Flynn said his concern stemmed from the high numbers of foreign nationals involved in crashes. They accounted for 25 per cent of deaths on the roads since the start of the year, he said.

"Over quarter of deaths on roads are now foreign nationals yet only 9 per cent of the workforce is made up of foreign nationals."

Mr O'Flynn said that 25 per cent of foreign-registered cars involved in crashes did not have valid insurance and 2,000 foreign motorists had incurred penalty points for driving without insurance, compared to just 119 Irish drivers, since the system was introduced.

Mr O'Flynn said all cars should carry certificates, not just discs, to prove that they were insured and any car that was not should be impounded, with the Department of Justice leasing private yards to store the impounded vehicles if necessary.