Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

I will deal first with the Deputy's final point regarding escorts. The Garda provides a considerable number of non-military escorts in any given week. More than 600 movements of cash are escorted by gardaí so it is not the case that one must see a jeep and Garda cars travelling beside a vehicle to conclude that an escort is in operation. Many cash transits are escorted with little public profile. For obvious reasons, I do not wish to address in detail the criteria for escorting cash but they are worked out in consultation with the security industry and its chief customers.

The Deputy asked if I am alarmed by recent events. Most certainly I am alarmed and I have made it clear to the industry that if it does not get its act together, I will do so for it and impose from the outside standards with which it must comply.

The Deputy asked about global positioning systems. Some of the participants have GPS in their vehicles while others do not, which is a clear case of underinvestment. Some of the participants use much more sophisticated vans for some transactions than for others and, again, there is major room for investment in this regard. As the Deputy can well imagine, there is also room for using proper strong boxes, perhaps carrying independent GPS, with a capacity to destroy the contents if they are interfered with and of such a design that the transit staff cannot, under any circumstances, either under duress or otherwise, open them and with codes provided only to the recipients upon delivery. There are many other technical standards which could be introduced.

I explained to the security industry and I am happy to state now that I am unwilling to have the banks drive a race to the bottom in terms of standards. Security company employees are entitled to a decent wage rather than the bare minimum, decent conditions of work and equipment of the kind I described, which would safeguard them. The banks in question must face up to the fact that they must pay for additional standards. I will not tolerate a race to the bottom on standards when the result would be that society will be impoverished and anti-social elements enriched. I made this so clear I was perhaps unusually blunt.

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