Uninsured drivers caught on Cavan and Monaghan roads up over a third
Urgent measures are being called for to address the spike in the number of uninsured drivers on Irish roads.
It comes as new figures reveal that the Louth-Cavan-Monaghan Garda division recorded a 37% increase in the number of drivers caught driving without insurance between 2023 and 2024.
Ireland South MEP and member of the EU Transport committee, Cynthia Ní Mhurchú, is set to raise the price of insurance for Irish motorists in the Transport Committee of the European Parliament.
She is calling for the immediate implementation of the Action Plan for Insurance Reform promised in the Programme for Government.
She's blaming rising motor insurance costs as contributing to the spike.
The cost of car insurance has risen by over 11% in a year according to CSO figures, well above and beyond the level of inflation.
MEP Ní Mhurchú described the Garda figures for every district as "shocking".
The neighbouring Sligo/Leitrim garda district was among one of the worst in the country. The number of uninsured drivers detected on roads there more than tripled over the period concerned, up 216%.
Meath/Westmeath meanwhile recorded a 84.6% spike in uninsured drivers detected on roads over the review period.
Garda figures show that between the second quarter of 2023 and the second quarter of 2024, there were also significant increases in the number of vehicles detained by Gardaí across every county under Section 41 of the Roads Traffic Act 1994 “from a driver without an approved policy of insurance”.
MEP Ní Mhurchú says high car insurance premiums may be the reason for the spike in motorists driving without insurance.
“It appears likely there is a correlation between the excessive cost of car insurance in Ireland and the spike in motorists driving without insurance. That in no way justifies a motorist driving without insurance and uninsured drivers involved in accidents only serves to further increase the average cost of premiums."
MEP Ní Mhurchú pointed to France where analysts believe motor insurance premiums will rise by an average of between 4% and 6% this year, half of Ireland's increase.
"Whilst the cost of insurance in Estonia grew by 22% in 2023, it is still relatively low at an average of €144. Average motor premiums in rural Hungary are as low as €130 per year," she said, citing more examples.
Ní Mhurchú has vowed to raise the issue in the EU Transport Committee and will lobby her colleagues in government to implement the Action Plan for Insurance Reform promised in the Programme for Government.