Gardaí are investigating a bank robbery in Dublin this morning during which a bank employee and his family were kidnapped and held overnight.
Shortly after 12.00 am, four raiders broke into a house in the Clontarf area.
A bank employee, his wife and three children were taken hostage and held overnight in a field in the Donaghmede area of north County Dublin.
The man was then forced to drive to the National Irish Bank branch on the Howth Road where he collected a large sum of cash. The cash was then delivered to a location in Clontarf.
The family managed to escape and make their way to a house in Donaghmede where the alarm was raised.
None of the family were injured and the car used in the incident was recovered.
Fine Gael Justice Spokesman Jim O'Keeffe said the kidnapping confirmed an EU survey earlier this week which showed that Irish people are more likely to fall victim to crime than residents of any other EU country.
"I would now ask Justice Minister Michael McDowell to think long and hard about the comments he made earlier in the week, when he described Ireland as 'one of the safest countries in Europe'," said O'Keefe.
Labour Party Seanad Spokesperson on Justice Joanna Tuffy also condemned the incident.
"We were told in the past that the banks and cash transit firms had put in place new procedures that would have ended robberies based on the taking of hostages, but these gangs still appear able to walk away with huge sums of money with ridiculous ease," said Tuffy.