The High Court declared invalid a 1962 regulation that excluded a motorcycle pillion passenger from compulsory insurance cover, holding that the Minister had exceeded the powers given by the Oireachtas. The court did not order the Motor Insurers’ Bureau of Ireland (MIBI) to pay the passenger’s damages judgment.
The case arose from a September 1987 road accident involving a motorcycle owned and ridden by P.J. O’Neill. Denise Delargy, who was riding as a pillion passenger, suffered serious injuries. In an uncontested personal injuries action, she obtained a High Court award of £160,569 on 24 April 1996 but was unable to recover it from O’Neill. The MIBI refused her request to satisfy the judgment.
Delargy argued that the statutory and regulatory exclusions were unconstitutional and that European Community directives required her liability claim to be insured. She also sought damages and declarations concerning the State’s obligations. The State defendants denied liability and disputed that the directives required cover at the time of the accident. The MIBI said she was excluded under the applicable regulations and had no right to recover from it.
Justice Roderick Murphy found that the Road Traffic Act allowed the Minister to distinguish between vehicle classes but supplied no principles to guide that distinction. He said the regulation had arbitrarily restricted cover for a category of otherwise insured passengers. A motorcycle could be constructed to carry a passenger, he noted, unlike a vehicle area without passenger seating.
The court therefore declared Article 6 of the Road Traffic (Compulsory Insurance) Regulations 1962 invalid under Articles 40.3 and 40.1 of the Constitution, and declared that the Minister had acted ultra vires and the provision was null and void. Because of that ruling, the judge said it was unnecessary to decide the direct-effect issue concerning the relevant directive.
The MIBI’s obligation, the court held, was limited to liabilities that domestic law required to be covered when the accident occurred. As compulsory cover for motorcycle pillion passengers was not then required, the MIBI had no obligation under the applicable 1964 agreement to meet Delargy’s judgment. The court also held that, before 31 December 1998, the directive had no direct effect in Ireland against a public or private body or an individual. It concluded that the MIBI had no duty to indemnify her.