Let’s hear it for Dorothea Dowling. An Irish motorists’ heroine. She and her Motor Insurance Advisory Board have finally managed to do what Government, motoring journos like me, and so-called motorist organisations have all failed to do.

Sock the insurance and legal professions in the eye. Hard. Hurt them so much that they are demonstrably on the run. A kind of hobbling run, really, because she caught them by the goolies and squeezed more than firmly.

She and her team took three years to compile their report. Which wouldn’t have taken that length if those aforementioned professions had properly cooperated.

Well, we know why they were recalcitrant now, don’t we? ‘Commercially sensitive’ information was the insurers’ excuse. Very sensitive it was. Very profitable, too.

The legal eagles told her it was nothing to do with them, and so declined to contribute. Nothing more than 40% fees value of claims paid, it transpires. And, from another report on Friday, nothing more than 20% of the total income of law firms in the country.

And in the various forums around the country last week where the protagonists gathered to fight their case, Dorothea easily batted them down. No better than on RTE’s Prime Time on Thursday when she left the the lawyers and the insurers publicly blaming each other for the rip-off situation. She didn’t actually say much. But what she did say made simple sense.

Thing is, how bad the spokespeople for the two monied professions performed under pressure. It made me wonder why anyone would want lawyers or insurers to represent them in claims cases?

Of course, the truth is that most claims are settled out of court. When the fees can be agreed between the two sides who are supposedly working to get the best deals for their clients. Truth is that they all belong to the same club. Not only that, they OWN the club.

I’ve listened to the direct hard cases where young people are forced to pay extortionist premiums without any bad record. Indeed, even when they have GOOD records over a number of years, with full driving licences, they’re still screwed by the insurers, who keep raising the goalposts ... and the premiums.

I’ve talked to the mothers and fathers who have had to raise loans of up to 7,000 euros to help their children get on the road ... and that was only for the insurance!

In addition to the recommendations of the MIAB, which have by now been well documented, I was asked on a radio programme last week what I would suggest to help bring down the cost of insurance.

OK, my views might seem simplistic, but there’s often symmetry in simplicity. That’s why lawyers, and presumably insurers, don’t like it.

First, the State has to support the provision of driver training schools as has been strongly promoted by former rally champion Rosemary Smith for years. If even 20 deaths a year were eliminated by this, it would represent 13 million euros saved in actuarial terms. You could build a lot of driving schools for that money.

Second, no young driver (or even a late-coming older driver) would be allowed on the public road without having passed through an approved course at such a school, which would be equipped with all the necessary facilities to simulate and practice emergency situations.

Third, all drivers who pass this stage and gain a full licence would be restricted for a year in speed terms, and would have to undertake a further driving test at the end of the year to have the restriction lifted. Drivers under 21 could also be curfewed, perhaps not allowed drive after 9pm on weekends.

Four, the State should provide a basic third-party insurance to everybody, or to every car, which would cater for all third-party claims under a set menu of compensations for various injuries. Any comprehensive and increased cover could be negotiated with private insurers.

Five, any insurance company that wants to trade in the state would have to comply with equality legislation, and would not be allowed to decline to insure anybody on age, profession or sex grounds. All insurance quotes would be ‘innocent first’, with loading only allowed subsequent to a claim based on the insured’s fault.

Six, the legal profession should be taken out of the equation in High Court terms, and any disputed claims would be adjudicated by a compensation board as mooted by the MIAB.

That’s basically it. There wouldn’t be an awful lot of profit to be made, either by insurers or lawyers. Or by an increasingly litigious populace. But there wouldn’t be as much cost, either.

Ah, but then there’s the other vested interest which we haven’t mentioned yet: the State which currently garners a whopping share of every premium not just in VAT, but in that extra 2% levy that was a ‘temporary’ measure to pay for the rescue of the old PMPA when it was in trouble way back. The cost of that rescue has been more than recouped, and the company sold on very profitably, thank you. But there’s no question of dropping the levy.

So I’m not holding my breath.

Still, for the moment, in the first shedding of real light on the whole arcane business, it does seem that there might indeed be a God after all.

Her name is Dorothea.

©2002brianbyrne/IrishCar.Com

(Brian Byrne is editorial director of IrishCar.Com)