asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if he will make a statement regarding the major armed robbery at the main post office in Galway on 4 November 1983; and if he will take immediate steps to review security arrangements in all post offices in view of the circumstances of this robbery.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Galway PO Robbery.
10.
The circumstances of the robbery have already been reported in detail in the news media and I have nothing to add to these. Garda inquiries in the matter are still continuing and it would not be appropriate for me to comment further on the case. I can assure the Deputy, however, that security arrangements in post offices are the subject of ongoing consultation between my Department and the Garda authorities and the circumstances of the Galway robbery will be taken fully into account in those consultations.
Will the Minister of State let us know the actual amount of money which was taken in this robbery? Would he also say if the gardaí in the Eglington Street station were on duty on the morning of the robbery?
The exact amount taken was £184,302 and, as I have already stated in my reply, I am not going to disclose details of security arrangements because, if I did so, it would give people who carry out robberies a better opportunity to do so in future.
I do not think they will learn anything from this House. I asked a specific question to which I did not get an answer. Were the gardaí on duty in Eglington Street station on the morning of the robbery? If they were not there was it as a result of the overtime cut-back in the Garda Síochána which has made all post offices vulnerable at the moment——
That seems to be a question for another Minister.
Is he aware that I inspected that post office in 1982 and I put forward certain recommendations to the security people in the Department of Posts and Telegraphs? I wonder were they complied with because it is quite obvious that there was going to be a robbery there at some stage due to the lax security in operation.
The Deputy had great foresight. I do not know whether the gardaí were on duty in Eglington Street on the morning in question but I presume they were. That is a question for another Minister.
The Minister has not answered the major part of the question in relation to the steps which are being taken in relation to reviewing security arrangements in all post offices in view of the circumstances of this robbery. Post officers are now the main targets for robberies——
The Deputy must ask a question, he should not make a speech.
It would be contrary to the public interest to give any information about specific security precautions.
The Minister is doing nothing about it.
The Minister would probably have served himself better if he had not said that at all because it is obvious that there were no armed gardaí on patrol on that morning. If there were we would have known about it. Everybody knows what happened, so the Minister is not giving away any State secrets. Is the Minister aware that it is obvious to everyone that there were no armed gardaí in the post office that morning guarding up to £200,000?
As far as I am aware, armed Garda personnel operate in very few places.