Garda Cash Escorts.

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 27 January 2004

Tuesday, 27 January 2004

Ceisteanna (738)

John McGuinness

Ceist:

860 Mr. McGuinness asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of Garda or Army escorts provided in each of the past five years to financial institutions for the transport of money throughout the State; the cost of each; the contribution made to the Department in each case; the terms of the agreement between the institutions and the State regarding the cost; the proposals, if any, by the Department to recoup the full costs from the institutions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1339/04]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform (Mr. McDowell)

I am informed by the Garda authorities that, for operational reasons, it is not the practice of the Garda Síochána to provide details of the number of cash escorts carried out within the State.

The costs to the Garda Síochána regarding cash escorts for the banks are as follows:

Year	Amount
	€
2002	3,953,886
2001	4,341,491
2000	2,971,817
1999	3,112,538

Figures regarding 2003 have not yet been finalised. It is not possible to provide a disaggregation of costs by individual escort duty. The contributions of the banks regarding the above-mentioned costs are as follows:

Year	Contribution
	€
2002	952,000
2001	952,000
2000	952,000
1999	952,000

Following negotiations between the banks and my Department last year, the banks agreed to increase their contributions to €3,000,000 for 2003. It was also agreed that further discussions would occur about the level of contributions to be made by the banks in future years, and my Department is currently pursuing that matter.