McDowell to grill cash-in-transit firms over ‘radical lapses’
Mr McDowell announced that he will this week summon security companies and banks to his officers and demand to know why a voluntary code adopted by them had clearly not worked.
The Minister referred to “radical lapses” in the past week, including:
A raid in Donaghmede, north Dublin, last Tuesday, where large amounts of cash, believed to be €500,000, were left on the floor of a security van instead of in the safe provided
A raid in Clondalkin, west Dublin, last Sunday, where huge sums of money, believed to amount to €800,000, were left in a van unattended.
The minister said: “It’s clear to me, in a number recent cash-in-transit robberies, there has been a radical departure from normal standards of safety and good practice.
“These lapses in standards are completely unacceptable, they are inexcusable, and, as far I am concerned, they raise very serious questions about how the cash-in-transit business is to be managed and regulated.”
Minister McDowell was speaking after an emergency meeting with Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy, senior gardaí and the chief executive of the Private Security Authority, Geraldine Larkin.
He said the cash-in-transit companies and the banks had put in place a code of conduct on a voluntary basis, following an agreement with him last year.
“I have willingly gone along with a voluntary arrangement on the assumption they were going to do their level best to introduce decent standards of safety and security. I find now that these radical lapses in standards have occurred.
“As a result, the chief executive of the Private Security Authority told me that she is going to recommend to the PSA, an independent body, that mandatory licensing be brought in at an early date, as soon as it can be accomplished.”
Mr McDowell said banks that hired cash-in-transit companies which did not practice even moderate security procedures bore partial responsibility.
He said he would hold a meeting later this week with representatives from security companies and banks.
Meanwhile, gardaí are investigating the possibility that last Sunday’s raid in Clondalkin may have been the result of inside information.
An estimated €800,000 was stolen after a lone raider entered an unattended unmarked security van and waited for a security guard to return.
“This lone gunman didn’t pop up suddenly, he didn’t happen to be there,” gardaí said, “He was acting on good information, whether supplied to him, or researched by him. It’s possible he got it through surveillance over time.”
Gardaí said the raider was around 6ft tall, stocky, with a Dublin accent and wore a ski mask with a dark hoodie top.
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