An armed man dressed as a woman threatened a member of staff from a popular south Dublin pub at a night safe and escaped with €15,000.
The cash was from Rody Bolands Pub in Rathgar, which was very busy last night and into this morning because of the evening rugby international between Ireland and Australia.
The robbery occurred at Terenure Road East, Rathgar, at about 4.45am today.
As the 44-year-old employee of Rody Bolands on nearby Rathmines Road Upper was approaching the night safe he was confronted on the street by the disguised attacker.
After being threatened with what gardaí believe was a handgun, a second assailant appeared on the scene and both attackers succeeded it taking the money from their victim.
Gardaí believe the incident was well planned, saying the attackers appeared to have knowledge around the movement of the takings from the pub.
Investigators are working on the theory that those behind the robbery were loitering in the area for some time and had their victim and Rody Bolands under surveillance before moving in to take the cash.
Garda sources said the armed man dressing as a woman was likely designed to frustrate his identification from CCTV images capturing him in the area just before the early morning attack.
The attackers jumped into a nearby car and left the area in the direction of Terenure.
Gardaí believe the car was parked very close to the scene of the robbery in the early hours of this morning.
It has since been recovered in the Harold’s Cross area of south Dublin.
A silver Hyundai i40, it had a false taxi sign on the roof but no markings on the doors. It was fitted with false registration plates 12 CE 1549.
Detectives are working on the theory it was stolen and prepared especially for the robbery and believe the attackers expected to escape with more cash because of the large crowd rugby internationals usually attract to the pub.
Gardaí are appealing for witnesses to come forward.
They particularly wanted to hear from anyone who may have passed the ATM at the bank on Terenure Road East between 4.30am and 4.45am to contact them in Terenure on 01 6666400, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111 or any Garda station.