Reaction: An urgent meeting with Minister for Justice Michael McDowell to discuss the increasing rate of armed attacks on security van crews has been sought by Siptu.
The union, which represents 600 cash-in-transit security staff, says its members are being subjected to a "reign of terror" by criminal gangs.
Its general president, Jack O'Connor, contacted Mr McDowell's office yesterday to seek the meeting following the €2 million-plus robbery in Dublin in which a security van driver was held hostage.
The incident followed another in January in which a Securicor employee and Siptu member was shot in the leg during a bank robbery in Clane, Co Kildare.
Siptu security services branch secretary Kevin McMahon said last night that attacks on members were increasing in frequency and becoming more violent. There had been between 10 and 15 armed attacks on cash-in-transit security staff already this year.
Siptu had met Mr McDowell in 2004 to seek increased Garda protection for security crews and the union had arranged to hold a further meeting with the Minister this year.
It now wanted that meeting urgently brought forward in light of the worsening situation facing crews.
Mr McMahon said members were concerned that cash-in-transit companies were being viewed as a "soft target" by criminals.
"As long as there's no risk of being apprehended they're going to continue to target cash-in-transit operations and that is what's happening," he said.
Last year more than €3 million had been stolen in raids on security vans, he said, and very little of that money had been recovered.
This meant that criminal gangs were accumulating increasing amounts of cash to fund further armed attacks and other criminal activities.
Most of that €3 million had been taken in raids in the first half of the year, Mr McMahon said. There had been a reduction in the latter part of the year due to a Garda crackdown on the gangs involved.
However, while gardaí could identify the gangs responsible, they had not had sufficient evidence to apprehend them and seek to have them convicted, he said.
Siptu now wanted the Minister to provide increased resources for the Garda to pursue the criminals involved and to increase armed escorts for security staff.
The Siptu official also called for improved security measures, such as the introduction of systems to prevent security staff having access to cash and the increased use of CCTV.
AIB, he said, was already committed to the use of a technology known as "fluiditi". This involved placing cash in cases which were inaccessible to security staff.
If the cases were tampered with prior to being placed in an ATM machine, a dye would be used to degrade the cash inside.
