GARDAÍ SEIZED ALMOST 19,000 uninsured vehicles in 2024 – a 67% increase on the previous year.

That’s according to the Irish Motor Insurance Database (IMID), which is organised by the Department of Transport, An Garda Síochána and Insurance Ireland.

The annual report for the database shows that the number of uninsured vehicles seized by An Garda Síochána in 2024 amounted to 18,676, up 67% on the previous year.

The database was set up to provide the authorities with the insurance details for all vehicles on Irish roads, allowing gardaí to identify any uninsured vehicle from the roadside within seconds.

According to the annual report, details of 3.5 million vehicles and 5.5 million drivers were updated and passed on to gardaí by the end of 2024.

From the end of this month, everyone’s individual driver number – visible as code (4d) on the driving licence – will be added to the IMID database, and it will be illegal for insurance providers to issue an insurance policy without the driver number provided.

In other words, the onus is on the driver to provide the number, otherwise they will not be able to attain motor insurance after this date.

David Fitzgerald, CEO of the Motor Insurers’ Bureau of Ireland (MIBI), said about the new database report:

“MIBI has long sought the implementation of a tool that would quickly provide the legal authorities with details on the motor insurance policies in place for any vehicle operating on Irish roads.

“This has been an effective system in other countries, assisting police to track any uninsured driving activity that may be taking place.” FitzGerald said it was already proving its effectiveness and had helped gardaí identify and apprehend “thousands more uninsured drivers”.