Relatives of the family held hostage at gunpoint in their home in Cork city paid tribute last night to the gardaí for their quick response to the incident in the early hours of yesterday morning.
Cork auctioneer Dominic Daly said his daughter, Katie (35), who is six months pregnant, and son-in-law Gary O'Donovan (35) and their four children were well after the ordeal in their home at Mount Oval Village in Rochestown on Cork's southside.
"They're all doing well - it's a terrible thing to have happened but, thankfully, they're all OK.
"I can't praise the gardaí enough for their response. I just hope it's a wake-up call to society for more law and order to stop any repeat of this sort of thing," said Mr Daly.
Mr O'Donovan owns a chain of 12 off-licences in the Cork area and gardaí believe the gang planned to hold him hostage overnight, before taking them to the company's headquarters in Glanmire and forcing him to hand over cash takings yesterday morning.
The O'Donovans' ordeal began at about 9pm on Monday when two masked men, armed with a Colt revolver and a 60KV fully-charged stun gun, called to the family's three-storey detached house in the 800-home Mount Oval Village development.
Ms O'Donovan answered the door and was quickly bundled inside by the two men, who threatened her at gunpoint before tying her up and holding her prisoner upstairs, as they waited for her husband to return home.
Mr O'Donovan was confronted by the gang when he returned at 10.30pm.
He was hit on the head with the revolver by one of the gang, who threatened him before tying him up and covering his head with a hood.
The couple's four children, Rebecca (7), Sam (5), Sophie(3) and Jodie (18 months), had gone to bed before the armed men arrived and they slept through the entire ordeal.
A third man called at 11pm to check that everything was going according to plan.
One of the armed men, a Dundalk man, stayed upstairs to guard Ms O'Donovan while his accomplice, a Belfast man, minded Mr O'Donovan downstairs.
But he fell asleep about 1.30am and Mr O'Donovan began trying to free himself.
It took Mr O'Donovan almost an hour to free himself.
He slipped out the front door and, although bleeding from being hit on the head with the revolver, managed to make his way to a neighbour's house to raise the alarm.
Mr O'Donovan rang his wife's brother-in-law, Sgt Gary McPolin, who was at home asleep at the time, but he contacted Garda colleagues in Anglesea Street and a full alert was activated throughout Cork city.
Sgt McPolin made his way to the estate, where he was joined by Det Garda John McDonagh and Det Garda Joe Young, along with a number of other uniformed officers from Anglesea Street, Togher and Douglas stations.
They had been joined by an officer briefed to act as a negotiator in case it developed into a hostage situation.
They were still monitoring the scene when some 20 minutes later, at about 3.15am, the two gang members emerged from the house.
They were surprised by gardaí and, following a command from an armed officer, both men surrendered without much of a struggle.
Gardaí recovered the Colt revolver and the stun gun from the men. Both were arrested under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act.
The Belfast man was taken to Togher Garda Station, while the Dundalk man was taken to the Bridewell Garda Station for questioning.
Acting on intelligence at 10.55am yesterday, gardaí arrested a republican in Wicklow Street in Dublin city centre. He was taken under tight security to Mayfield Garda Station in Cork.
All three men were continuing to be questioned by detectives in Cork last night.
They can be detained for seven days, and gardaí are expected to keep in close contact with the Director of Public Prosecutions today.
