Commissioner criticises NIB for failing to inform gardaí of raid
On Monday, NIB employee Graham Dunne and his family were held hostage by a gang which demanded from NIB access to the safe at one of its branches in return for their safe release.
The bank agreed to their demands and decided not to inform gardaí straight away, thereby preventing the force from planning an operation to capture the gangsters. The gang reportedly got away with up to €300,000.
“From my point of view I would have preferred if bank management there would have actually brought to our notice the minute they became aware of the situation,” said the commissioner.
“We have past experience where banks have reported incidents in the past and they were brought to a successful conclusion.”
He had this message to criminals and to banks: “I want to point out to criminals we will be talking to the bank authorities and we’ll be making certain statements to them and we will expect them to play their part in relation to the whole area of criminality.”
Commissioner Conroy’s comments follow similar statements on Thursday by Justice Minister Michael McDowell.
NIB chief executive Andrew Healy said on Thursday that staff at the bank were being unfairly judged and that criticisms failed to adequately take account of the “dangerous, difficult and traumatic circumstances” staff found themselves in.
