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MOTOR INSURERS' BUREAU.
THE Minister for Local Government has made
arrangements with the vehicle insurers operating
in this country whereby the insurers have agreed
to establish an organisation to be known as the
Motor Insurers' Bureau of Ireland.
The Bureau
is intended to deal with the problem of the person
who suffers personal injury (including death) at
the hands of the negligent driver of a motor vehicle,
but cannot recover compensation because of the
failure of the driver to insure himself or insure
himself adequately.
While there has been no evidence of any significant
number of cases of failure to receive legal compensa–
tion in such circumstances there is no doubt that
instances can occur.
Insurers elsewhere have
entered into voluntary agreements
to see
that
persons obtaining judgment in respect of personal
injury
to which compulsory
insurance applies,
recover the amount due to them and the insurers
operating here have now formally completed an
agreement to make similar arrangements.
The Bureau which the insurers have agreed to
establish will start to operate on a date to be fixed
shortly and will deal with accidents happening on or
after, but not before, that day.
In respect of any
such accident, if the injured person, being a person
towards whom liability is required by law to be
covered by insurance, finds that the person res–
ponsible for his injury does not satisfy the judgment,
then, subject to certain conditions being complied
with, the Bureau will see fhat it is satisfied. It is
emphasised that the arrangement does not apply
to damage to property.
The scheme will in no way diminish the impor–
tance to all motorists of being insured. Not only.
would a guilty motorist be liable to suffer the
.penalty for driving without insurance, but he
would also remain liable to reimburse any sum
paid to the claimant by the Bureau, which will
take an assignment of the rights of the claimant.
The Bureau is thus in no sense a substitute for
insurance. It is essential, if the scheme is to continue,
that this fact should be borne in mind alike by
motorists and those responsible for the administra–
tion of the law, and that the offence of driving
without " third-party " insurance should continue
to be regarded as a very serious matter from the
point of view of the community.
The scheme cannot cover cases where there is
no known defendant and therefore no judgment
possible.
Examples are the " hit-and-run " case
where
the defendant remains untraced, or
the
case of a person found injured on the road with
no evidence to show how he met his injuries.
The insurers have agreed, however, in addition to
their formal undertaking under
the agreement,
that in such a case where upon the evidence it is
clear that the injury was caused by the negligence
of the driver of a motor vehicle and that if the driver
had been found, judgment could have been obtained
against him, the Bureau will, in their discretion,
give sympathetic consideration to making some
ex gratia
payment to tne injured person.
It is not
the intention, however, under this part of the
arrangement to deal with every trivial injury alleged
to be due to a passing car or to deal with cases
where the driver of a known vehicle tries to pass
on responsibility to some alleged untraced vehicle.
Applications for an
ex gratia
payment will only
be considered when the injured person has sustained
death or serious and permanent disablement.
The State, which is exempt from the requirement
of motor insurance, will deal,
ex gratia,
with any
personal injuries claim arising out of the unauthorised
use of a State-owned vehicle, broadly in the same
way as the Bureau will deal with cases arising out
of the use of vehicles which ought to be insured.
Where there is a policy of insurance covering or
purporting to cover the use of a State-owned
vehicle, the case will be dealt with by the Bureau.
Coras lompair Eireann, being an undertaking
exempted from
insurance, has agreed
to
treat
cases in which its vehicles are involved on the
same basis as the State will act in relation to State-
owned vehicles.
In lieu of insuring against third-party risks, a
person can obtain a guarantee from an authorised
guarantor who has made the approprizte deposit
with the Courts.
There
is only one guarantor operating,
the
Caledonian Insurance Co., and it will meet claims
for compensation arising out of the use of a vehicle
in respect of which there is in force a guarantee
issued by it, in circumstances similar to those in
which the Bureau would meet a claim if any other
vehicle were involved.
It is intended that the Minister for Local Govern–
ment and the Bureau when established, will enter
into an agreement, the terms of which will be
published.
EXCHANGE CONTROL ACT, 1954.
BY the Exchange Control (Commencement) Order
1955
(S.I. No. 128/1955) the ist July 1955 was
fixed as the day on which the above mentioned
Act other than Section 14 and Sub-section (i)
of
Section 15 thereof shall come into operation.
On 28th June, 1955
the Minister for Finance
made
the Exchange Control Regulations
1955
(S.I. No. 129/1955) which came into operation on
ist July 1955 and deal with various matters under
the Act.