Yesterday's attempted raid of the post office in Lusk, Co Dublin, was the latest in a series of armed raids which have more than doubled in frequency in just five years.
New figures obtained by The Irish Times from the Department of Justice reveal that last year there were 428 robberies or aggravated burglaries where a firearm was used. There were 203 in 2000.
Since the beginning of this year, almost 170 armed robberies have taken place around the country.
John Kane, general secretary of the Irish Postmasters' Union, said there had been raids at post offices in Mayo, Roscommon and on the Meath-Cavan border in the past week. "It was inevitable there was going to be an incident with the loss of life or injury," he said. "I'm hoping that this is just a phase and hopefully we may see the end of that now."
A post office was raided in Ballyhaunis, Co Mayo, on Wednesday. This followed a raid on Athleague post office, Co Roscommon, on Monday. Last Friday, a post office in Mullagh on the Meath-Cavan border was targeted by a man armed with a knife. There have also been recent raids on post offices in Ballymahon, Co Longford, and Frenchpark, Co Roscommon.
The growing number of armed raids of all kinds has become a serious cause for concern for gardaí and the Government.
Minister for Justice Michael McDowell conceded in the Dáil a fortnight ago that a gun culture was beginning to emerge in Dublin. The Minister is on a fact-finding trip to the US where he and Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy have gone to see how some American cities approach crime-fighting.
He said from the US yesterday that the Government would continue to provide gardaí with whatever legislative and financial support they needed to target the activities of gangs such as the one that attempted to rob Lusk post office.
"While any loss of life is to be regretted," he said, "the harsh reality is that members of An Garda Síochána must take whatever measures are necessary to deal with the deadly menace posed by armed gangs."
Earlier, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern was similarly insistent that sometimes armed gangs needed to be met with the force which claimed two lives yesterday.
Senior gardaí last night said the Garda code set down clearly the circumstances under which gardaí could shoot their weapons. These included when a garda believe there was a danger to his or her life or to the lives of others. They can also shoot a person when protecting State property.
In training, gardaí are told to aim for the "critical mass", that is, the torso. "There's no question of aiming for someone's hand or their leg," one Garda source said. "You get a split second to make the judgment and you are trying to disable a threat to your life. It is as simple as that."
Yesterday's Garda operation was put into place after intelligence was received that the robbery was imminent. Identical operations are mounted weekly at financial institutions throughout the State.
As with yesterday's operation, armed gardaí wait inside financial institutions in the hope of catching would-be raiders in the act. These are backed by armed colleagues in unmarked vehicles outside such premises. Other gardaí wait in vehicles at various points within a few kilometres of the scene in the event they are needed to give chase to the raiders' vehicle or set up checkpoints to block their escape.
The Garda helicopter is also put on standby for the same reason. All of these procedures were in place from before dawn in and around Lusk yesterday.
Such operations represent the force's day-to-day response to the threat of armed raids.
In many cases the quality of information from informants proves to be poor and does not lead to attempted robberies being foiled. However, in some cases, such as yesterday, gardaí intercept their targets.
Mr McDowell has recently made available an extra €6.5 million for Garda overtime for Operation Anvil, which has been established to target gangs and individuals involved in gun crime in the Dublin metropolitan area.
The operation involves detectives and uniformed gardaí from across the city, as well as members of a number of specialist units including the Criminal Assets Bureau, the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, the National Bureau of Fraud Investigation and the Emergency Response Unit.
Separately, gardaí last year established Operation Delivery, which continues to focus on gangs suspected of being behind the armed robbery of €8 million from cash-in-transit vans since the beginning of last year.