Private security firms have stepped up security in an effort to stop the spate of "tiger" kidnappings that have occurred across the State in recent months.
After 13 attacks in as many weeks, cash-in-transit operators Brinks and Securicor have developed a new system aimed at protecting their staff and the money they carry.
One of the changes being made is for the vehicle safe to be remotely controlled from a central location. Staff will only be given access to the money if the vehicle is in the correct location at the right time, and all this will be checked through GPS.
Securicor have implemented the system, and Brinks said it was in the process of doing so.
Other improvements being looked at are closer GPS monitoring of vehicles and cash boxes and more efficient automatic dying systems. Some firms are also keen on delivery convoys whereby vans from various companies would travel together in packs, reducing the risk of thefts, but this has yet to be backed by the gardaí or Department of Justice.
Officials are also looking at using more elaborate codes on vans, but security firms, which months ago proposed being allowed to use bus lanes and special parking zones outside banks, have yet to have any response from the Department.
Tánaiste and Justice Minister Michael McDowell welcomed the moves today, saying they "should go some way to reducing the risk to staff of these companies from threats at the point of delivery".
Mr McDowell said he wanted to see change from within the industry including banks, financial institutions and cash-in-transit firms.
"But I will lay down the law if it has to be done and I'm waiting for a full report from the Commissioner of An Garda Siochána as to whether what changes Securicor have done applies to every other company," he said.
The moves come after an emergency summit of industry heads with Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy. It followed the weekend kidnapping of a couple in their 60s that led to a €1.3 million raid on a Securicor van in Carlow.
A working group, headed by Chief Superintendent Pat Hogan, is being set up to implement measures to strengthen protection cash movements. But Mr McDowell said he was awaiting a report from the commissioner.