Minster for Justice Michael McDowell said today that National Irish Bank's decision to pay an estimated €270,000 ransom to an armed gang this week could "attract repeat offences".
Although he was unwilling to go into detail due to the investigation, Mr McDowell did say that anyone who was aware of an offence being committed "has a duty to bring it to the attention of An Garda Síochána, to protect innocent lives and to prevent that kind of offence from occurring in the future".
Mr McDowell pointed out that there was a forum in place between An Garda Sichana and financial institutions where these matters would be dealt with.
"I don't think it needs my intervention to make it clear to everyone who runs a financial institution that if any of these kind of events take place the safety of their staff, the public and the integrity of the financial institution requires them to co-operate immediately and without fail with An Garda Síochána," he said.
"Any other policy would only attract repeat offences and put innocent people's lives in danger."
Mr McDowell added that not reporting offences immediately increases the confidence of criminals and correspondingly decrease the effectiveness of the Garda.
Senior gardaí have also expressed concern at National Irish Bank's decision. Sources said it "completely undermined" the Garda's chances of apprehending the gang while the incident was in progress.
"It sends a very dangerous message out to other people who may be planning similar attacks," said one senior Garda source.