Security firm Brinks Allied was today ordered to continue cash deliveries to Bank of Ireland, but staff will be required to carry smaller amounts of money in transit.
With fears growing that ATM machines nationwide would run dry over the Bank Holiday weekend, the High Court ruled that cash-in-transit operations must carry on.
But Mr Justice John McMenamin said Brinks Allied should only be required to deliver the lowest amounts possible agreed under previous contracts with the bank.
The court was told that in the interests of safety and to protect the lives of security staff, transit vans would only carry small sums of money.
Mr Justice McMenamin said the decision was taken in the interest of the prevention and deterrence of violent crime by criminal gangs and subversives.
Counsel for both the bank and Brinks Allied had put forward options requiring security staff to continue operations under agreements signed in December 2002 or July 2003. A third option was also proposed to continue deliveries at a lower level.
The High Court ruled at an earlier sitting that the sums of cash involved should not be made public.
Counsel for Brinks Allied also gave an undertaking that security staff would continue to work as required by contracts supplying cash to banks and ATMs pending negotiations and a further hearing in the court next Thursday.
Both sides have agreed to enter into talks at executive level to resolve the crisis over the coming days.
PA