Quinn Direct Racist policy

MadsL

Quinn Direct are at it again, once again they are constructively refusing non-nationals insurance with inflated quotes for non-nationals; Also reported by the Irish Times.

I have had assurances from Quinn Direct that they were to stop this disgusting, unethical practice, but it appears that their manager has been overrulled by the board.

Anyone care enough to write to them, I'm composing a protest letter...
and also ringing Sylvia Coldrick to ask what the 'mistake' was.

http://www.donegalnews.com/newsindex.htm

A leading insurance company who twice quoted an Indian national in the region of €8,000 for car insurance have claimed it was a mistake.

Thangasamy Bagavathya (27) from Tamil but now living and working in Letterkenny was flabbergasted when he got the quote from Quinn Direct Insurance last week for just under €8,000. The first quote was for a Fiat Punto and on Monday he got an even bigger shock when he was quoted €8,324 for a larger Toyota Corolla car. Thangasamy's friend, Brendan Connaghan first thought it was a mistake, but when he phoned Quinn Direct back again they assured him that it was correct. .
'Six of us were sitting around when he came off the phone and we told him it must have been a mistake or that he could not understand them properly,' explained Brendan.

'So I rang back and told them (Quinn Direct) I was ringing on behalf of my friend and I was given the same quote. I could not believe it, I asked the operator why it was so expensive and she said that it was an automated system and she had no control over it. As Quinn Direct is a large company I figured I would try a little experiment and phoned back giving the exact same information except stating that the quote was for me- I was born and raised in Donegal. I supplied everything else the same, even my colleague's date of birth. The quote I received was around €1,800. So it seems to me that if you are from India then Quinn Direct will charge you an additional €6,100. This type of thing should not happen,' he said.
Thangasamy works for a large IT Company based in Letterkenny and moved here from India about three months ago. He recently completed his Driving Theory Test and just received his Provisional driving licence.

He said that Quinn Direct had quoted him approximately €7,995.00, third party fire and theft cover, for a 1995 Fiat Punto 1100cc with 70,000 miles. He decided not to buy the Punto and bought a Toyota Corolla 1,300cc instead and then rang back for another quote on Monday and was quoted the higher price.

'Brendan asked them why it was so expensive and they could not give him an answer. He gave my details but only said he was from Ireland and there was a massive difference. I do not know why they give me this quote. I am finally going with FBD as they are much cheaper and am delighted with price,' he said.

'I moved from India three months ago to take up a position as a software engineer with a multi-national IT company in Letterkenny,' Thangasamy said.

This reporter made a call from the Donegal News office on Tuesday and, like Brendan, I gave Thangasamy's same details except for his name and nationality. I was quoted just €2,157, a difference of €6,167. Thangasamy got other quotes which averaged around the €2,500 mark and finally accepted FBD quote which was a competitive €1,506. And he added that he has no bad feelings against Quinn Direct, but just could not understand why they had quoted him so much.

Mr Phil Watt, CEO of the National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism (NCCRI) an expert body on racism issues said '"It could be a case of discrimination on the basis of nationality and he should take case to the Equality Authority under the Equal Status Act,' he said.

'Unfortunately we hear a lot of stories about financial institutions discriminating or putting up hurdles in the paths of non nationals. Hurdles such as requests for ID then further requests for ID and generally trying to put people off. This matter needs to be investigated to ensure that there has been no discrimination,' he concluded.

Speaking on Thursday a spokeswoman for Quinn Direct, Sylvia Coldrick, said that they had discovered a mistake in the 'rate instruction' for overseas drivers.
'Unfortunately, someone like yourselves had to bring this to our attention but we have identified it now and are going to rectify it,' she said.

The revised quote from Quinn Direct for Thangasamy Bagavathya is €3,958, still some way short of his lowest quote from FBD.

parsi

While they are at it fixing the "rate instruction for overseas drivers" could they please sort out their rate instructions for natives ?

They have to be the dearest around...

MadsL

"They have to be the dearest around..."

When they don't want your business - it's called cherry picking.

SantaHoe

This just in:
INSURANCE COMPANY IN UNFAIR DISCRIMINATION SHOCKER

Not in the least bit surprising.

mike65

Why would they want to know your nationality? Also its not a racist policy rather its a nationalist policy (not that thats any better). The best thing to do with Quinn Direct apart from posting a thread is simply not use them.

Mike.

parsi

MadsL wrote:

"They have to be the dearest around..."

When they don't want your business - it's called cherry picking.

and its racist when its somebody that isn't Irish ?

StRiKeR

want to hear another story about Quinn Direct, couple of yrs ago me and my dad was insured with them, I always drive sports car, and under my dads policy, one day, I bought a new 2 seater convertible, and got pull for no tax as I only just got the car, but insured with QD, i was asked to produce the insurance, there was a mistake when they transfered it from the last car, my name didnt show as a name driver, sh*t, got brough up in court for that! my solicitor called them about it, they turned around and said we were not insure with them at all, i ended up apealling the case as I got disqualify for 2 yrs, at the end, we got no respond from QD, but the judge can see that QD basically made a mistake but dont want to answer, so the 2 yrs disqualification was removed, but they still gave me 4 yrs endorsment, we are still trying to get a respond from them as I am not satisfy with the result, I didnt do anything wrong, I dont deserve that!

BrianD3

Motor insurance companies have been openly discriminating against people (read young males) on the basis of their age and sex for years, using the loophole in equality law whereby discrimination is acceptable if it's based on acturial statistics.

If they can get away with this, there's no logical reason why they wouldn't discriminate on the basis of race or nationality as well. All they have to do is ask everyone applying for insurance what their nationality is. This will then allow stats to be generated and discrimination to be practiced.

If Quinn Direct did happen to be found to be in breach of equality legislation with regards to racism, then it would be a scandal if they weren't pulled up on the grounds of sexism and ageism also.

BrianD3

MadsL

Why would they want to know your nationality?

So that they can effectively refuse (ie give you a ridiculous quote) your business

its not a racist policy rather its a nationalist policy

Eh?

The best thing to do with Quinn Direct apart from posting a thread is simply not use them.

No the best thing to do is to send them a letter complaining about this practice, complain to the Equality Commission, The Irish Insurance Federation, the Data Protection Commissioner, and all media until they stop this very dodgy practice. And not use them (tell them that in a letter)

MadsL

parsi wrote:

and its racist when its somebody that isn't Irish ?

It is discrimination on racist grounds (read the article again)

Clearly the only reason this bloke got quoted eight grand was that he wasn't Irish, ...had he been Irish, it would have been six grand cheaper.

mike65

Its discrimination on Nationality grounds

Mr Phil Watt, CEO of the National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism (NCCRI) an expert body on racism issues said '"It could be a case of discrimination on the basis of nationality and he should take case to the Equality Authority under the Equal Status Act,' he said.

Mike.

MadsL

The UN defines racism as
"any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life."
http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Racism

Can we stop the semantics now....

parsi

If you read the article you will see that the friend got a quote of around 1800 and the reporter got a quote of 2157 all based on the same details which would imply that the QD rating system may be done using quickpicks... so maybe its racist against differing parts of Donegal (not beyond the realms of possibility..) ?

MadsL

I suspect the friend forgot the provisional licence bit....

The reporter was possibly more careful...

Farls

I'm not sure about this, but my uptake on the situation is they want to know your nationality just like they want to know your county, different places have higher/lower crime rates etc.

Anyway quite pleased to see their doing their bit to keep the foreigners out.

Farlz

Boggle

Discriminate against men ......... fine by you.

Discriminate against non-nationals ....... unacceptable?!?!


Dont worry, push come to shove they'll cook the statistics to show an increased risk if you are black..... Will that make you happy about the discrimination? Whay dont you start a letter writing protest about something that would actually benefit a higher % of people?

MadsL

Discriminate against men ......... fine by you.

When did I ever say that? I was very disappointed that the EU proposal did not go through.

Discriminate against non-nationals ....... unacceptable?!?!

Absolutely. Unless you care to justify it like the idiot above as keeping the foreigners out (I just hope he was being sarcastic)

Dont worry, push come to shove they'll cook the statistics to show an increased risk if you are black..... Will that make you happy about the discrimination?

Of course not, but at least then we can have some actual figures to argue against, at the moment this is the only insurance co. to discriminate in this way.

Whay dont you start a letter writing protest about something that would actually benefit a higher % of people?

That's the whole point about minorities you see, it is the responsibility of the majority in any decent, civilised society, to ensure that the rights of minorities are not trampled on. Of course, that assumes that the citizens of a country don't take the "I'm all right Jack, and feck the rest of ye" attitude that seems to prevail every time I bring up this topic. In fact, I seem to get more criticism than the Insurance company. I wonder why you feel I am "wrong" to bring this to your attention. Or do you have your own 'feelings' about foreigners and their rights in this country. Please explain why you feel critical enough to bother to reply to this thread...


And Farls, your second comment doesn't even deserve a response, but as far as requiring information about your nationality - if this is SO important then why does only ONE insurance company do this?

uberwolf

Way I see this, insurance companies assess your risk based on how your profile fits in with people they've previuosly insured and extrapolate how great a risk you're likely to be. If age, gender, social class can be used so can race.
I hate people getting up in arms over PC stuff and not over other equally discrimantory stuff.

Health insurance isn't allowed discriminate based on age because it would work against the more senior. The young simply haven't made a political issue of car insurance.

Merrion

The only solution on this would be a law that required each insurance company to publish their rating tables and each broker to publish their commission...so long as this information is private to the company it can be abused.

MadsL

I hate people getting up in arms over PC stuff and not over other equally discrimantory stuff.

So by that logic you hate people who step in if they see a guy being beaten up by a gang of scumbags, when they should be concentrating their energies on the wider problem of violencein society.

Can you really not spare the time to write an email, cus you are out there 'fighting discrimination'??

That doesn't make sense to me.

Boggle

MadsL wrote:

Please explain why you feel critical enough to bother to reply to this thread...

Firstly, apologies if I seemed overly critical as its a subject that just boils my blood. Secondly, I am not criticising that you want to defend the rights of minorities rather that you apear to be cherry-picking the fashionable causes. My main gripe is that while so called bleeding hearts (generalisation - not personal) will bend over backward to help the so called "poor black-man", most dont even look sideways when they see the open discrimination against large sections of the population ... i.e. young males.

If you want to start a letter writing camaign against discrimination in the ins industry then do so - but do it for ALL discrimination, not just the fashionable ones.....

MadsL

Look, there's very little I can do as far as age/sex discrimination, as the right to do this is enshrined in legislation at the moment - the movement to change the sex discrimination aspect did not get the support it needed, although I did support recent efforts to challenge this through the EU, and have attended MIJAG meetings (what have YOU done about this, btw? Mr Perfect?) and also how is this 'fashionable' - when all I get on this forum is criticism on the issue.

However the point is that Quinn Direct are abusing their position as
1. Data Controllers;
Information gathered has a statatory responsibility to be;
"the data shall be adequate, relevant and not excessive in relation to the purpose or purposes for which they were collected or are further processed"
- section 2(1)(c)(iii) of the Act

Clearly Nationality is inadequate for the purpose, irrelevant and excessive.

2. Cherry picking clients;
ie No non-nationals need apply - therefore behaving unethically.

3. Are likely in breach of Equality legislation on Nationality grounds.

But I should ignore all of this because it is a 'fashionable' issue. I'm having trouble following your logic again...

Kaskade

StRiKeR wrote:

there was a mistake when they transfered it from the last car, my name didnt show as a name driver, sh*t

quinn direct require written confirmation to remove a named driver, when my mother passed away they wouldn't take here off the policy without a letter or a fax so ask them to product this request.

uberwolf

MadsL wrote:

So by that logic you hate people who step in if they see a guy being beaten up by a gang of scumbags, when they should be concentrating their energies on the wider problem of violencein society.

fair enough, logic in there alright.

MadsL wrote:

Can you really not spare the time to write an email, cus you are out there 'fighting discrimination'??

I simply don't care enough about this instance in question. My prejudiced feelings would be that there could very well be a higher risk factor with foreign nationals - if the insurance compnies have satisfied themselves that is the case then work away TBH. Either stop their capacity to discriminate on all grounds or leave them work away. My PC comment is a reference to this. You're proposing a half way house on discrimination, or at least I'm inferring that, because this appalls you or drives you to action that you care more about this then the young being discriminated against, or males being discriminated against.

MadsL wrote:

That doesn't make sense to me.

I hope this maybe clears up my angle? Even if doesn't justify it to you.


edit: I see you've addressed some of this in posts I hadn't seen since I started formulating my response.

Farls

No sarcasm in my last post.

I'm also with boggle on this, he states something closer to home that is a LOT more important than your grievances.

anyway take it up with MIJAG they'll know what way to go.

Farlz

MadsL

I simply don't care enough about this instance in question. My prejudiced feelings would be that there could very well be a higher risk factor with foreign nationals - if the insurance compnies have satisfied themselves that is the case then work away TBH.

And they are certainly prejudiced feelings - there simply isn't the sample size to say that there is a statistically accurate level of risk associated with foreign national drivers - I mean just how many drivers do you honestly think QD have insured given the level of premiums they have been charging. Also there is the question of appropriate level of loading, I would find it hard to believe that a Tamil National is four times more of an insurance risk than the Irish driver. Note the fact that no UK company has established Nationality as a basis for Insurance risk.

Either stop their capacity to discriminate on all grounds or leave them work away. My PC comment is a reference to this. You're proposing a half way house on discrimination, or at least I'm inferring that, because this appalls you or drives you to action that you care more about this then the young being discriminated against, or males being discriminated against.

I'd love to see this happen, and I am happy to take any opportunity to make this happen, but I am talking in this instance about a single company deviating from standard practice in this regard. That is worth complaining and protesting about. Would you be prepared to defend a bank that charged foreign nationals higher bank charges because 'all bank charges are too high anyway'.

Perhaps you would also like to list your actions to protest discrimination on age/sex in the insurance industry, or is your horse too high to stoop that low?

StRiKeR

Kaskade wrote:

quinn direct require written confirmation to remove a named driver, when my mother passed away they wouldn't take here off the policy without a letter or a fax so ask them to product this request.

we did request for everything, but rather its was me of my dad or my solicitor calling, they just say the person looking after that is busy and that they'll call us back but never happened!

MadsL

Farls wrote:

No sarcasm in my last post.

I'm also with boggle on this, he states something closer to home that is a LOT more important than your grievances.

anyway take it up with MIJAG they'll know what way to go.

Farlz

Then your attitude is what allows these companies to get away with this shit, but you are probably the first to complain when you sense that the Irish are being discriminated against. Typical.

Boggle

MadsL wrote:

what have YOU done about this, btw? Mr Perfect?

Mailed a few politicians last year or year before - no reply. Signed up to MIJAG - they're being ignored. Mailed the equality commissioner in EU - was told about the bill in progress and mistakenly assumed that the EU wouldn't be bullied by big business. Have a job (needed to pay my high ins) so cant exactly afford to spend my days outside the DAIL protesting....

MadsL wrote:

1. Data Controllers;
Information gathered has a statatory responsibility to be;
"the data shall be adequate, relevant and not excessive in relation to the purpose or purposes for which they were collected or are further processed"
- section 2(1)(c)(iii) of the Act

The data they use to discriminate against males is hardly adequate ... its just enough to tell the story they want to hear. You could also factor in other things like education, criminal record, previous driving record.

MadsL wrote:

2. Cherry picking clients;
ie No non-nationals need apply - therefore behaving unethically.

Again, I do not object to you being concerned about this - in fact I applaud the fact that you are willing to do something about it. What I am saying is that there are huge amounts of the population being discriminated but, because it is not as fashionable, it is widely ignored and in fact generally applauded.


...and again I apologise for the fact that I appeared to have a personal dig at you earlier as it read alot worse than it was intended - but saying you cant follow my logic is a bit silly. If I am unclear please let me know specifically what you are unclear about and I will explain myself.

Farls

MadsL wrote:

Then your attitude is what allows these companies to get away with this shit, but you are probably the first to complain when you sense that the Irish are being discriminated against. Typical.

Thats because this is our country, so until the bigger things are sorted out ie. what bobble said. I don't see the point in making a big scene about the minority.

I'm sure if you complain enough you'll get some sort of social welfare to pay for your insurance and probably a state car to bring you around that the rest of us and our parents/children will have to pay for. :rolleyes:

Farlz

RuggieBear

Farls wrote:

Thats because this is our country...

Oh dear god...... :eek:

On the discrimination of foreign nationals...could it be based on not holding an irish drivers licence or something. I was watching a british police show the other night and an officer stopped an iranian national for some dodgy driving and it turned out his iranian drivers licence isn't valid in Britain...

MadsL

Cro-Magnon Cavan Man wrote:

Thats because this is our country, so until the bigger things are sorted out ie. what bobble said. I don't see the point in making a big scene about the minority.

I'm sure if you complain enough you'll get some sort of social welfare to pay ...blah blah blah bloody nig nogs...over here ...blah women...blah...jobs....

I'm sorry I can't hear you over the sounds of your knuckles dragging on the ground...when you find an argument that isn't based on bigoted claptrap, do let me know.

RuggieBear wrote:

On the discrimination of foreign nationals...could it be based on not holding an irish drivers licence or something. I was watching a british police show the other night and an officer stopped an iranian national for some dodgy driving and it turned out his iranian drivers licence isn't valid in Britain...

Nice try, but Nope...My wife (American with full Irish Licence) was quoted 600 euro more than the equivalent Irishwomen. I rang back and pretended that she was Korean and the quote was 3000 euro higher - again with a full Irish licence

Also I have discovered that Quinn Direct may be breaking EU directives in this regard...

As it was modified by the treaty of Amsterdam, article 13 of the treaty of the European Community gives the Community the power to take the necessary measures to combat discrimination.

On the basis of Article 13, the Council has adopted the following directives:

The directive 2000/43/CE of June 29th, 2000 relative to the principal of equal treatment of all persons regardless of race or ethnic origin, outlaws discrimination based on race in the domains of employment, education, social security, healthcare, and the access to goods and services, and the guarantee that victims of such discrimination compensation in all member states.

This would also cover sex discrimination in terms of men/women's premiums.

This directive - 2000/43/CE - was cited as being implemented in the recently passed Equality Bill, but they watered down the sex and race discrimination aspect despite a very strong directive from the EU. This was probably due the lobby about increasing everyone's premiums.

RuggieBear

MadsL wrote:

Nice try, but Nope...My wife (American with full Irish Licence) was quoted 600 euro more than the equivalent Irishwomen. I rang back and pretended that she was Korean and the quote was 3000 euro higher - again with a full Irish licence

Well...perhaps it's a learned to drive on the other side of the road issue....!? Clutching at straws...but yeah looks like a xenophobic policy to me!!!

MadsL

Well...perhaps it's a learned to drive on the other side of the road issue....!? Clutching at straws...

Yep, clutching at straws...Sri Lankans (and therefore I presume Tamils) drive on the left...

Farls

bigoted claptrap eh?

Tell that to the thousands of young irish males paying through the teeth for insurance.

So its alright for you to discriminate against me because i'm from cavan so obviously my knuckles drag the ground???

Does that mean that whatever part of Africa your from the insurance company has every right to presume the only prior driving experience you have is elephant riding, sorry driving i mean.


Farlz

Borzoi

This thread is sailing very close to the limit of my tolerence to personal abuse.

I'm leaving it open if it stays on topic

Don't make me get the jackboots and banning stick out

Boggle

... yeah back on topic.

What I was saying is that if you are looking for support in a letter writing campaign then naturally I would support it as it is blatantly wrong. Naturally I would prefer if you were trying to combat all discrimination connected to insurance companies but even if not the case I would never assume the attitude that since I'm being discriminated against then f*ck everyone else.

Imposter

MadsL wrote:

However the point is that Quinn Direct are abusing their position as
1. Data Controllers;
Information gathered has a statatory responsibility to be;
"the data shall be adequate, relevant and not excessive in relation to the purpose or purposes for which they were collected or are further processed"
- section 2(1)(c)(iii) of the Act

Clearly Nationality is inadequate for the purpose, irrelevant and excessive.

The same could be said for sex and age. Then you'll argue about statistics so i'll ask how QD or any other insurer can come up with statistics that would penalise ANY group if they weren't allowed to gather this info?

I agree with you MadSL this practice is terrible but I agree with the others who say that it's no worse than what is done against young males or any other grouping who is unfairly discriminated against.

Another thought: Might it be the case that the insurance company has some evidence that foreign drivers are more of a risk but are afraid to publish this info on the grounds that they'd be seen as discriminatory based on nationality and that they'd probably have a court case on their hands (possibly EU court), from people who could afford to do this, unlike young male drivers for example?

pickarooney

There's no such country as Tamil. It's a language/people. Maybe because it didn't feature on the list of available countries on Quinn's computer it defaulted to 8 grand?

MadsL

@FARLS

bigoted claptrap eh?
Tell that to the thousands of young irish males paying through the teeth for insurance.

Explain to me how this affects young irish males.

So its alright for you to discriminate against me because i'm from cavan so obviously my knuckles drag the ground???

No, I just deliberately put in the Cavan bit so that you would immediately respond with the discrimination against people from Cavan line. Doesn't feel that good eh? Maybe you are teeny step towards understanding what it is like to be discriminated against on the basis of where you are from. My knuckles dragging on the ground comment was about the intelligence of your argument. Borzoi - this was meant to attack the post not the poster, apologies if I went too far.

Does that mean that whatever part of Africa your from the insurance company has every right to presume the only prior driving experience you have is elephant riding, sorry driving i mean.

Eh? Does what mean what? Having an Irish Driving licence means what exactly?

Imposter wrote:

I agree with you MadSL this practice is terrible but I agree with the others who say that it's no worse than what is done against young males or any other grouping who is unfairly discriminated against

Therefore young male drivers should join a protest as the next step is getting to a fair non-age based quotation system...

Imposter wrote:

Might it be the case that the insurance company has some evidence that foreign drivers are more of a risk but are afraid to publish this info on the grounds that they'd be seen as discriminatory based on nationality and that they'd probably have a court case on their hands (possibly EU court), from people who could afford to do this, unlike young male drivers for example?

Young male drivers have brought court cases. But have largely had then either rejected or unsupported. Eu law does not allow say the IFSRA to have anything to say on underwriting or pricing.

There's no such country as Tamil. It's a language/people. Maybe because it didn't feature on the list of available countries on Quinn's computer it defaulted to 8 grand?

Possibly, but notice when they fixed the 'rate instruction' mistake the quote was still nearly 4 grand!

mike65

From QD radio ad-

Terms and Conditions Appply, but not too many

Mike.

Farls

I was just underlining what boggle was saying about young males in Ireland being discriminated against, and this is a bigger problem than non nationals.

You Madsl then pawned it off as being "bigoted claptrap".

I didn't say having an irish licence meant anything. Just grossly showing how the insurance company can look on non national situations.

I was only following in how low you were bringing the arguement.

There is a protest group out there called MIJAG as i mentioned before.

Farlz

MadsL

I was just underlining what boggle was saying about young males in Ireland being discriminated against, and this is a bigger problem than non nationals.

You Madsl then pawned it off as being "bigoted claptrap".

Err, I think you we thanking QD for doing something to keep out the foreigners...I stopped listening after that.

I was only following in how low you were bringing the arguement.

Trust me, I would have to bring your mother into it to get as offensive as you were being.

Something along the lines of Africans elephant riding I think was your stunning conclusion.

uberwolf

TBH your posts (MadsL) have for the best part been coherent and persuasive and I have altered my viewpoint as a consequence in this instance. This does appear to have been illegal and unjustified.

MadsL

Thanks Uberwolf, your honesty is much appreciated.

MadsL

Irony of Ironies...

I've just dicovered that the Quinn Group's slogan/strapline/slogan wotsit is.....


STRENGTH THROUGH DIVERSITY
http://www.quinn-group.com/

laughed my ass off at that one...

woody

Pardon my french but I hate that shower of thiefing Cavan C*nts.

Ignorance is on the customer service rep course.

Just boycott them and abuse them...they have no scruples nor should we.

Got a lovely quote of 865 full comp with hibernian who are really giving a chance to people and will profit from it...got 17% off for having no peno points

shoegirl

I think there is a legitimate case if a person gained their licence in a country where driving on the RHS is the norm, otherwise it would appear like unreasonable loading. And yes, it is discriminatory.

As for all these "non nationals" getting social welfare to pay for cars, I don't think so, the only non-nationals i know driving cars are well heeled high earners brought over by multinationals to babysit their interests in Ireland. The guys in the asylum system get 19 euro a week to play with, that wouldn't buy any sort of a car, except something ready to be scrapped.

Lets face it, the Irish insurance industry has been systematically discriminating on the grounds of age and gender for years. The only difference is that these days people who get quotes of 2k+ are stupid/wealthy enough to pay that money. With the number of young people I know willing enough to pay that amount, no wonder the insurers are hiking their rates. Back in my youth if you couldn't afford insurance you got the bus until you were old enough to get a reasonable quote, which proportionate to wages was not much less than it is now. It is unsurprising now that such a large percentage of the population are the grown up under 21s that the insurers didn't want the business of in 1989 that they have found new reasons to exclude them - and will keep doing so as long as people are willing to pay them.

positron

Okay, a few points here.

1. Tamil is not a country or a nation. I would imagine its a case of the reporter assuming that everyone would know what a 'Tamil' person is. Now, Tamil is a language spoken in TamilNadu, an Indian state. There are many Tamils in Dublin and in rest of the country, most of them IT engineers and the rest are doctors and the like. There are a few Tamil students doing various courses at DBS, DIT etc. Tamils generally good with numbers and science in general (CV Raman, nobel prize winning physician, was Tamil.). My point is that there is a huge difference between asylum seekers and a knowledge worker with Postgraduate degree in Science.

2. The person in question is a non-national, IT engineer working for a multi-national company.

3. He has an Irish license. I don't know if he had an Indian driving license, because even with an Indian driving license, he have to follow the usual driving license test and procedures to get one here (crazy huh?).

4. Indians drive on the same side of the road as in Ireland, in fact, all former British colonies drives on the ‘wrong side’ (as americans say)!.

Now, IMHO, that was blindly ignorant from QD's part, and they should either admit it and promise to review their policies, or should be sued for discrimination based on nationality/race.

my .02c

ubu

hey farls,
would the fact that you used to work for QD have anything to do with your attitude towards non-nationals and that you feel the need to defend their obviously discrimanatory policy?
do they give you some sort of conditioning on induction which basically has you coming out thinking Foreigners = Bad

Farls

Me having worked for them has nothing to do with it, just have had far too many bad experiences with non-nationals to have any time or pittance for them.

Farlz