Minister for Justice Michael McDowell has said he does not attach any particular significance to the fact that one of the men shot dead by gardaí during a post office raid on Thursday was unarmed.
Colm Griffin (33) and Eric Hopkins (24), both from Dublin's north inner city, were shot dead by the Garda Emergency Response Unit at the post office in Lusk, Co Dublin.
Mr McDowell and Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy were visiting police stations in New York yesterday. They were due to return to Dublin early today.
Mr McDowell said: "I don't attach any particular significance if one of these men was unarmed. I don't want to pre-empt any thing, but the gardaí have my strong support."
He said the public would not expect the Government to speak "in forked tongues" about tackling crime.
"The Irish public has asked us to address this issue . . . Of course, gardaí should apply the highest professional police standards but, as the Taoiseach said, we can't get weak-kneed when there is a confrontation of this sort."
Speaking on RTE's Late, Late Show last night, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said the gardai were in "a difficult position". He added: "They took the action they had to take."
Chief Supt Kevin Ludlow, who is based at Anglesea Street in the Cork City division, has been asked to investigate "all the circumstances surrounding the incident", including the tactics used by gardaí. In a statement, the Garda said it regretted the loss of life in any circumstances and conveyed its condolences to the families of those who died.
Eugene Larkin, owner of the Village Store in which the post office is housed, raised questions over whether gardaí did enough to protect the safety of staff and customers in the shop.
"If the guards knew this robbery was happening in advance they - the gang - should never have been allowed enter the shop in the first place," he said.
At least one member of staff at the shop has said that gardaí called on the raiders to drop their weapons before they opened fire.
Gardaí claim Griffin had pointed a gun at a garda after the order had been made. CCTV camera footage from the shop is said to confirm this version of events.
Questions remain, however, over how Hopkins came to be killed, as only one gun was recovered. Tests on the semi-automatic weapon are expected to confirm that the gun had not been fired.
Two men who were arrested at the scene and a third who was arrested nearby remained in custody last night, along with a woman from the Lusk area who was arrested later on Thursday.
The four were being held at Clontarf, Blanchardstown, Coolock and Swords Garda stations under section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act.
Gardaí confirmed yesterday that they had hoped to tackle the raiders before they entered the shop. However, they were forced to change their plans after the gang drove to a delivery bay at the rear of the premises.
Supt Kevin Donohoe said: "Certainly the best option was to confront that gang in a location where there was no civilians, where there was minimum threat to anybody. But we don't control the script in these cases."
However, Mr Larkin said: "I just don't think it's right. If the guards knew this operation, this robbery, was going down I think they should have had staff out of there, and maybe armed guards in posing as staff members.
"They had armed guards in the post office with the post office staff, yet they left my staff unprotected in the shop, and the customers as well."
