Gardaí must step up their efforts to crack down on thieves who have stolen large amounts of cash from cash machines, the Labour party said today.
Speaking after a spate of incidents, the party's spokesman on justice, Mr Joe Costello said "sooner or later" a security guard or member of the public is going to be killed.
"The frequency of these robberies is most alarming... these raids demonstrate once again the easy access to weapons that gangs have and the casual way in which they are prepared to use them.
"The Minister for Justice has continually promised action to deal with these gangs, but, as with the 2000 extra gardaí, we have not seen a single legislative or policing initiative to put the gangs out of business and their leaders behind bars," Mr Costello added.
More than €500,000 is believed to have been taken in the latest robbery from an ATM on Monday in Bettystown, Co Meath. A Dublin gang is suspected of being behind the raid.
During the incident one of the security staff was held at gunpoint and two of the three gang members fired a number of shots from two sawn-off shotguns before they escaped with over €500,000.
An estimated €80,000 was taken in a similar raid at a supermarket in Drogheda last month.