Two men have been arrested after they broke into a house in Edgeworthstown, Co Longford in the early hours of Sunday morning and threatened the occupants at knife point.
A number of men broke into the house at approximately 1.30am. The occupants managed to raise the alarm and gardaí arrived as the men were making their escape.
A 41-year-old man was arrested after a chase by gardaí and a 24-year-old man was later arrested near the scene during a follow up operation involving garda units from Granard and Longford stations.
All property taken during the course of the burglary has been recovered. A car has been seized as part of the investigation.
The two men are currently detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984 at Granard and Longford Garda stations. They can be held for up to 24 hours.
The investigation is ongoing.
The issue of rural crime came to the fore recently when a gang of seven men were jailed for between 12 and 20 years for carrying out a terrifying aggravated burglary on a Co Tipperary family two years ago.
Mark Corcoran was asleep in the middle of the night when he was woken by a man in a black balaclava brandishing a large knife, and another man armed with a handgun. It was the start of a terrifying ordeal for Mr Corcoran, his wife Emma and their three daughters, aged two, six and eight.
Last week, up to 1,500 people gathered at a meeting in Thurles, Co Tipperary to call for urgent reforms of bail laws to help tackle a growing “epidemic” of rural crime. The “save our community” campaign meeting heard dozens of personal accounts of robberies from farmers, small business owners and older people, along with demands for greater action by authorities.
Senior gardaí were present for the meeting, including Assistant Commissioner Jack Nolan and Chief Supt Catherine Kehoe for the Tipperary division. The gathering heard calls for a series of tough measures to help combat the problem, such as electronic tagging of convicted criminals, stronger trespass laws and greater Garda resources.