Minister for Justice Michael McDowell has described yesterday's robbery of around €800,000 from a security van in Dublin as "a disturbing development".
A lone gunman held up a crew member of a security firm's unmarked 4x4 vehicle, which was delivering money to a bank in Clondalkin in west Dublin.
There were no shots fired, and the Nissan Patrol vehicle is now being examined by Garda technical experts.
The robbery was the third security van robbery in the past week, netting around €1.5 million for the thieves.
Mr McDowell introduced a major overhaul of the private security sector following a spate of robberies in the 18 months up to mid-2005, leading to a 27 per cent reduction in such robberies last year.
The Minister said the new spate of robberies requires an "effective response" from the gardaí, security industry and banking sector.
He is meeting senior gardaí and security industry representatives to discuss current rules governing the transportation of large sums of money.
"I want to establish quickly and clearly the state of compliance or otherwise of the whole cash-in-transit sector with the voluntary protocols hammered out last year for secure management of significant cash deliveries in this jurisdiction."