As reported on Newstalk and the Irish Independent, a new 2% levy will be introduced on Irish insurance policies, excluding health and life insurance, but including policies such as home and motor insurance.

The levy is to raise funds to pay for €600 million from the Insurance Compensation Fund, which covers losses by insurance companies. However this fund currently only stands at €40million and losses at Quinn Insurance amount to €700 million. The buyers of Quinn Insurance, Anglo Irish Bank and Liberty Mutual, are unwilling to take on all the losses, therefore €600 million needs to be raised from the Insurance Compensation Fund and this will be done through the 2% levy.

 

As reported by independent.ie, a new traffic camera enforcement trial will begin on the streets of Dublin. The trial will last 12 months and will be aimed at catching drivers jumping red lights.

"The trial will involve one camera, which will be moved between the junctions where the Luas red line meets Blackhall Place and Queen Street near Dublin's quays."

Some rights reserved by Infomatique. Source: Flickr

If caught, drivers will be given 2 penalty points and an €80 fine, rising to €120 if it is not paid within 28 days. 

Source: New traffic trial to picture red-light jumpers in the act (Irish Independent)

The new '61' UK car registrations for Great Britain were released yesterday (01/09/2011). According to the article 'Car registrations plummet as drivers hold on to their vehicles' from moneyexpert.com, around 330,000 new cars will be registered in September with the new '61' plate. As car dealers and show rooms try to shift "old" 51 registrations, and you're looking for a new car there will be a few good deals to be had out there for those willing to live with a '51' registered car. 

GB Car Registation Explanation

The first two letters are the area code of the local registration office. This gives a rough idea of where the car was first registered.

The two numbers indicate when the car was registered. For example:

March 2005 - '05', September 2005 - '55'
March 2006 - '06', September 2006 - '56'
March 2007 - '07', September 2007 - '57'
March 2008 - '08', September 2008 - '58'
March 2009 - '09', September 2009 - '59'
March 2010 - '10', September 2010 - '60'
March 2011 - '11', September 2011 - '61'

The last three letters are random, and exclude certain characters (e.g. I, Q). The letters distinguish each registration that has the same area code and age identifier.

More information about the GB car registration system can be found at 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_the_United_Kingdom.