Security beefed up by AIB at city HQ

Geraldine Gittens

AIB is setting up a 'Fort Knox'-style secure facility at its Dublin 4 headquarters.

Brand new security measures such as gates, fencing, security barriers, security bollards and a new security kiosk will be installed this summer.

Sources close to the bank said the revamped security measures are being introduced because the bank has terminated its lease of the front buildings to Mountbrook, the group owned by developer Sean Dunne.

But the measure comes at a time when Irish banks are being forced to increase security, following attacks by angry taxpayers on Anglo Irish Bank on April 24 and May 15.

AIB was bailed out by the Government when it received €3.5bn last year, inciting anger across the country.

A new security kiosk will be installed, along with a new steel-frame louvered screen roof with vertical lead sheeting.

A spokesman from AIB declined to comment on its proposed new security arrangements, and he would not reveal the anticipated cost of the work.

The bank has leased the blocks in front of AIB Bankcentre, opposite the RDS on Merrion Road, Dublin 4, since Mountbrook bought the buildings and adjoining land for €207m in July 2006.

A source from AIB also said "It's not that we've suffered any security [breach]. We're not trying to beef-up security or change security. We're just no longer using the front four buildings."

The bank will vacate the blocks in July 2011, and it is applying for planning permission to introduce new security measures by that date.

hnews@herald.ie