Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Members will be aware that one of the matters dealt with in this Bill is the legislative underpinning for a motor insurance database. This is a project that was developed over a long time. The aim behind it is to provide a resource to combat uninsured driving. Uninsured driving is a menace. Drivers who drive while uninsured are typically guilty of other road traffic offences and are a danger to the public. The cost of uninsured driving ultimately falls on law-abiding citizens through higher insurance premiums. This database will enable the Garda to identify uninsured drivers more easily and get them off our roads. Legislation was first put in place to underpin this database in 2010. At that time, the full outline of what the database would look like and what would be needed to underpin it in legislation, was far from clear. As a result the 2010 legislation was very vague. It was amended in 2016 and to a further small degree in 2018 as the project developed and there was a clear idea of what would be needed. Some of the provisions were commenced in 2019 and details of a large number of policies have been uploaded to the database. However, to complete it we need further amendments, which are included in this Bill. The Bill addresses three principal areas relating to the database. First, it adds a new section 56A to the Road Traffic Act 1961 to require provision of certain information by clients to insurers when taking out motor insurance. The reason is that as insurers will have to provide certain information to the database, they will need to be able to acquire it from the client. Second, it updates provisions to comply with the general data protection regulation, GDPR, which came in after the most recent substantive amendments to the provisions in 2016. This involves providing clarity on what data can be shared, with whom and for what purposes. I wish to acknowledge the constructive engagement from the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner in developing these provisions.

Finally, it creates provisions to capture the details of vehicles held on fleet policies. These are policies covering a range of vehicles that may join and exit a fleet multiple times over one year. It is essential to keep track of these changes. It is in the interests of both the public and fleet owners for this to happen. Some Members may be aware that some road haulage operators have said they are being unfairly targeted here, which is not true. There are many holders of fleet policies, not just hauliers and they are all being treated alike. I am sure that on reflection, they would want to be sure that their vehicles, like any others, were kept up to date on an insurance database used by the Garda to ensure their insurance is in place.

Today, I am proposing three amendments to finalise and refine the measures already in the Bill. First, I am introducing a definition into the Road Traffic Act for the term, "vehicle identification number". This is because the term will be used further on in the other amendments. Second, I am proposing to substitute the new section 56A as it stands in the Bill. The changes are not enormous, but it is much simpler to replace the whole section 56A than to make multiple small amendments. The same is true for the third change, where I am proposing to substitute section 78A. The principal changes relate to the fleet policy issue. The new version of section 56A will specify the information, which a fleet owner or motor trader will need to supply to the insurer in order that the insurer will be able to provide that information to the database. However, a fleet owner or a motor trader will also be required to supply details of their drivers and vehicles directly to the database. In the case of standard policies, this information will also be provided by the client to the insurer, who will then provide it to the database. The reason for asking that it be provided to the database directly by the fleet owner or motor trader is that vehicles, drivers and fleets can change through the year. This information needs to be updated as appropriate. This is the most efficient way to do it, and is in the interest of fleet owners. After all, they do not want to be in a position where one of their vehicles is not up on the system and appears as being uninsured or where a driver is not registered as covered. In line with UK legislation, we are also allowing that vehicles held for up to 14 days will not need to notified to the database, only those held for longer. In section 78A we are updating the requirements on insurers to provide the data, which they will have regarding fleet policies. Members may also wish to note that in both section 56A and section 78A we have dropped references to the driver number on driving licences issued prior to January 2013. This is because such licences would have been valid for a maximum of ten years and are therefore no longer in circulation.