Where To Now For MIJAG? (Written by Mick Murphy the National Organiser on 4/9/2002) MIJAG History Following three years of campaigning, MIJAG supporters are increasingly asking the question, will the Motor Insurance Rip-Off ever end and what can MIJAG do about it now. This is a fair question and this report will attempt to deal honestly with it. It is clear from the feedback from people (especially young drivers) that the situation is getting worse and they think nothing is going to be done. Therefore it is important that we take stock of the situation and access the ability of MIJAG to do more on this issue. We (Mick Murphy and Lisa Maher) started doing the research on the extremely expensive insurance (particularly for young drivers) this time three years ago. We were confronted with the issue through our work as Socialist Party candidates and representatives in Tallaght and Rathfarnham. Also like anyone we had plenty of personal experience with our own policies and our children's. We produced a policy statement for a campaign and held the first meeting of what was to become MIJAG in Tallaght at the beginning of December 1999. During the research for that document what was really striking was the uniform answers given by the representatives of the various Government Departments, Motoring Organisations, Insurance bodies, Journalists etc to the problem. The High Accident Rates was the start and finish of the story as far as they were concerned. Well known commentators such as Connor Faughna of the AA, Tracey Hogan of the Independent Newspapers etc repeated this mantra. Of course it was such a simple argument to make and hard to argue against. Any accident rate is too high. We have the European average at twice the UK's but half of Portugal's. But we have the most expensive motor insurance in the world. We concluded from our research that the accident rate wasn't even half of the story and chose the slogan "End the Car Insurance Rip-Off" as being the best slogan to sum up the situation. We called a meeting in Tallaght to sound out the people effected by the crisis (the motoring public) and they agreed with us and we launch a campaign. Success Our key success to date is that MIJAG almost single handily exploded the popular myth that the high accident rate was the only reason for the high premiums. Thanks to the political pressure and media attention brought to bear on this issue by our campaign the MIAB where given access to the raw data and their report confirms what we were saying all along, that we are indeed being ripped off. The MIAB was up and running for a year and was making very slow progress when we started MIJAG. It should be said that the one person that shared a lot of our concerns from the start was Dorothea Dowling who chaired the MIAB. The following quote from the MIAB report sums up the situation and points to the big change in attitude from the time our campaign started... "Successive administrations have failed to tackle the vested interests and inefficiencies that collectively may account for as much as half the premium paid by law abiding motorists. The debth of public feeling on this issue should not be underestimated. As an example, the 1998 advertisement by MIAB for public submissions received only a handful of responses. This can be contrasted with the 2001 advertisement which elicited over 300 submissions, only half of which related to young drivers". The big difference between 1998 and 2001 wasn't that premiums shot up but that we were very successful in highlighting this issue. Packed meetings with TDs invited in Dublin and Cork followed by car protests and more meetings in Wexford, Drogheda, Limerick, Galway and Clonmel put this issue firmly on the political map. The recommendations of the MIAB report now form part of the program for Government. Questions were being asked in the Dáil after every one of these meetings. mijag.com It should be mentioned that two other things that happened early on in the campaign were crucial to its success. Ciaran Kennedy turned up to the first meeting and volunteered to set up a web site. It was from this that the initial contacts were made with people like Brian O'Rourke in Cork, Gareth O'Shea in Limerick and David Murphy in Galway. Mijag.com has been a great asset to the campaign. Second, following contact from young drivers in Cork through the internet , our party colleague Mick Barry in Cork agreed to take up the issue. The Cork campaign has been the most active since then. The idea that all drivers are being ripped off for Motor Insurance in this country is now an established fact. All the commentators including some very reluctant people from the insurance industry, the media etc are now agreed on this. For a small organisation with a small budget MIJAG has been hugely effective and has acted as a small cog turning a very big wheel. Meetings, protests, legal action Before moving on to the situation we are now facing, one or two other aspects of the campaign need to be commented upon. Campaigns of this nature will generally have three aspects. First there is the public work and public pressure through the meetings, protests media etc. Given our size we have done remarkably well in this area. Second, any campaign will look for a legal solution to their problem. Legal cases can also be excellent for getting publicity. Our only legal angle has been the Equal Status Bill. It has brought us huge publicity but there has been no result from it yet. Dozens of cases are still in front of the Office for the Director of Equality Investigations (ODEI) and there could be a result any day. Political Pressure Third Political pressure can be the key thing. Some of us involved in MIJAG were leading co-ordinators of the successful Campaign Against Water Charges in Dublin between 1994 and 1996. Water Charges and Sewage Charges were abolished all over the country due to the successful campaign in Dublin at that time. During that campaign we organised a huge boycott of the charges and then we defended people who were taken to court. Ultimately that issue was decided when Joe Higgins (the Campaign Chairman) just missed a Dáil seat in the Dublin West bi-election of 1996 coming second in the election. That meant that our campaign was potentially placed to take 3 or 4 seats in the 1997 General Election. The political establishment weren't going too allow that and the charges were abolished at the end of 1996. Joe Higgins still took a Dáil seat in 97 and the rest of us that ran at that time got big votes. Insurance Boycott The fastest way to force the issue of motor insurance is to get large numbers of people to refuse to pay. If that was done the current system would effectively collapse and would have to be re-built as a much fairer system. Even if people would agree to participate in a boycott on a large scale there would need to be local organisations in every part of the country. They would be needed both to organise the boycott and defend people who hadn't paid if and when they end up in Court. MIJAG has never reached the levels of organisation that the likes of Campaign Against Water Charges achieved. MIJAG has over 4,500 subscribers through the internet with people in every county in Ireland. We could have active groups in every county and city if we had someone to organise them. Where experienced organisers have taken up the issue ie Cork, Tipperary and Dublin quite active groups have been established. But even in these areas it is an open question as to how effectively we could organise a boycott of motor insurance. In the other areas it has taken regular trip by myself to get the work done. Other experienced organisers and political people from different parties around the country did contact MIJAG and were encouraged to get the campaign going in their areas. They include Sinn Fein Candidates and independent Fianna Fáil candidates in Donegal. MIJAG isn't fussy about who sets up the local groups and we have always made that clear. Apart from Mick Barry in Cork only Councillor Billy Shore and the people around Semus Healy TD in South Tippeary did the business and have organised local meetings and protests. Even if people would support a boycott (which is questionable) our lack of organisation throughout the country rules it out as a tactic. Election Campaigns Electoral we have had some moderate success but not sufficient to unduly worry the political establishment. The campaign around the MIJAG Candidate in Dublin (David Green) was quite limited. It did however succeed in strengthening the organisation in Dublin and David's vote of 1,300 was quite good. For instance one well known Independent Councillor in the area got 300 votes. The Labour Party Candidate in the area, a local councillor struggled to get 2,000 votes. Mary Harney who runs in that area made a big play on what she was going to do about Motor Insurance and given her position in the Government she would have taken a lot of votes that might have gone to David Green. Mick Barry was running for the Socialist Party in Cork but was actively supported by MIJAG there. It was Mick's first outing in a general election and he got a very credible 1,000 votes. People like Joe Higgins TD in Dublin West and Seamus Healy in South Tipperary who have been very good to the campaign retained their seats. It should be said that in all areas politicians from all parties and none had material about what they had done (sometimes blatant lies) or what they were going to do on this issue. Five point plan for MIJAG:- 1. Firstly we can say that much of what was contained in the MIAB report will eventually be implemented and we welcome that. We should argue at every opportunity for the implementation of this report. What effect it will have on premiums, particularly young drivers premiums is anyone guess. It should help but will be far from our demand of everyone who has an accident free record including first time drivers paying less than €1000. Politically the MIAB report has been a good cover for the main political parties and they might try to get through the next election hiding behind it again. We must ensure that this does not happen. 2. We should continue to pursue the Equal Status Legislation. A win here could cause a serious upset for the industry. There are a number of cases with the Office of the Director of Equality Investigations (ODEI) and there should be some results of these cases soon. MIJAG should continue to advise people on how to prepare these cases. 3. Through the web site or other internet facilities MIJAG can publicise how people can best help themselves under the current circumstances. For instance we encourage people to participate in the Hibernian "Ignition" Program because it does promote safety through the Advance Driver Training program and does save money. 4. Other groups such as the Hauliers, Taxi/Hackney drivers, Bikers, small business people, Macrs Na Feirma, Student Unions, etc may do some work on this issue. We should set up meetings in Cork and Dublin at the very least to see if we can set up an alliance. 5. We should maintain MIJAG in its current guise as the only organisation that will keep this issue. We can keep the website going, keep in touch with the campaign supporters by e-mail and when the need arises hold public meetings with politicians etc to keep the pressure on. Stunts like occupying Insurance company offices, pickets of the Dail etc can be done to highlight the issue. Back Home