Garda Commissioner Drew Harris has rejected any assertion that gardaí have failed the people in border communities in the wake of the attack on the Quinn Industrial Holdings executive Kevin Lunney.
Drew Harris said the joint Garda/PSNI investigation into the kidnapping and serious assault was following definite lines of inquiry and he appealed to people in the community to bring any information they have to either of the police forces.
He said they were conducting a linked-series investigation, which encompassed previous Quinn-related threats and attacks.
Meanwhile, gardaí are searching for a white high-roof van with a distinctive red floor used to take Mr Lunney from the scene in Cavan to where he was left severely injured on the road at Cornafean.
PSNI Chief Constable Simon Byrne described the attack on Mr Lunney as "an escalation that came out of nowhere."
The police chiefs were at a cross-border crime conference in Cavan today.
Much of the focus was on what the two police services are, and have been doing, to tackle the ongoing threats and attacks on Quinn Industrial Holdings executives, which culminated in the kidnapping last week and brutal assault on Kevin Lunney.
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Mr Harris said he did not accept that the business executives and the people in border communities had been failed by gardaí. He said previous attacks had been difficult and isolated incidents where unfortunately there had been no judicial outcome.
Gardaí, he said, were following definite lines of inquiry in the investigation into the Lunney attack and are searching for a van believed to be used in the attack.
Commissioner Harris said he did not blame people for being afraid but he did not want to "big up" this gang.
They were, he said, vicious individuals with some level of organisation but gardaí were determined to solve this crime and protect the people of Ireland. The gang he said were not above the law.
He also said a new armed support unit would be operational in Cavan on Monday and 20 new gardaí would be assigned to the division next month.
Chief Constable Byrne said both police forces would be looking at the motive for the attack because whomever was behind it was a very important part of the investigation.
Mr Byrne said he has had an increase in his budget and there would be 190 extra PSNI officers assigned to the border and an asssistant chief officer had been assigned to Brexit preparations.
Commissioner Harris said there had been 150 new gardaí assigned to the border area in the last two years with Cavan gaining an extra 42.
Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan said there was now in place a special operation between gardaí and the PSNI dealing with Quinn-related issues and there was a high degree of north/south co-operation.
