Banks must pay more for protection

The banking industry has agreed to pay an extra €2 million annually towards the cost of the protection the Garda Síochána and Army have been providing for the transfer of money between various banks around the country.

But the €5.8 million the industry will pay next year is still only about half of the actual cost of this service. As result taxpayers are being saddled with the burden of making up the shortfall.

The total contribution of the banks amounts to less than what Allied Irish Banks earns in just two day's business. During 2002 AIB had unprecedented pre-tax profits for an indigenous Irish company, with over €1.037 billion in profits for the year, while the Bank of Ireland was not far behind with profits of over €1.013 billion.