New rules coming in for Irish drivers could result in €5,000 fine for some

Insurance companies in Ireland are introducing strict requirements for motorists as part of an effort to combat uninsured driving

Geraldine Herbert, motoring editor for the Sunday Independent, explained the changes on Newstalk, noting that many policyholders may have already received notifications from their insurers.  

“Basically, they won’t give you insurance now, a new policy or renew your existing policy without your driver number,” she said.

“Your driver number pack can be found on your licence and if you don’t know where it is, just Google it because it’s actually easier to see it visibly.”

The introduction of this will make it easier for Gardaí to identify uninsured drivers.  

“The idea of this again, it’s to address the uninsured drivers and it gives a Gardaí more information.

“If they stop you at the side of the road, they can, up to now, be able to check whether the car is insured, now they’ll be able to get all sorts of information about the driver - and that’s what this is about.”

Offences for driving without insurance in Ireland are prosecuted in court. 

If you’re caught without an insurance disk on display, it carries an initial fixed charge of €60 (rising to €90 after 28 days). 

If you drive while uninsured, you could be fined up to €5000 and get 5 penalty points, but you could also go to prison for up to 6 months.

In addition to the insurance changes, new speed cameras will soon be in place near Slane Bridge, which is a well-known accident hotspot. 

“This, historically, has been quite a dangerous spot,” Ms Herbert said.

“So that’s the reason for that, again it’s the usual - three penalty points and €160, if you go to court you can increase to five points in a fine of up to €1,000.”