Large cash robberies have a long history in the country, with the last 40 years in particular seeing a substantial increase.

* Prior to the mid-1960s armed robbery was largely unheard of, apart from some IRA raids during the early 1920s and 1940s.

* The first major bank robberies of modern times were carried out by the Dublin-based Republican splinter group Saor Eire.

In 1967 there was only one armed robbery, a Saor Eire raid on the Royal Bank in Drumcondra, Dublin.

* In 1969 Saor Eire robbed the Northern Bank in Kells setting up roadblocks to cut off the town.A similar operation was carried out in Rathdrum, Co Wicklow in 1970.

* In May, 1969 an estimated £25,000 was taken in an armed robbery of a security van at Dublin Airport. The IRA was implicated.

* The onset of the Northern troubles saw a massive upsurge in armed robbery in the Republic with paramilitary groups joined by a new generation of criminals in heists.

* From 1972 to 1978 most years saw over 100 armed robberies in the south, notable heists included Clondalkin Paper Mills in August 1974 which netted £50,000 and the £150,000 taken at Heuston Station in 1978.

* With more security and the development of police tactics, the frequency of armed robberies declined in the 1980s.

* The early 1980s saw robberies in the North begin to involve families being kidnapped to force post office or bank officials to aid criminals, these would later become known as “tiger kidnappings.”

* In 1992 a new record was set when Provisional IRA gunmen took £2.1m from the AIB in Lisduggan, Waterford.

* The mid-1990s saw another upsurge. In 1995 there were 171 armed robberies. These included a north Dublin gang taking £4m in a raid on the Brinks Allied security depot in Clonshaugh in Coolock, north Co Dublin.

* In December 2004 the Provisional IRA took stg£26.5 million from the Northern bank in central Belfast. A bank worker’s family was held captive.

The employee was later acquitted of involvement in the crime.

* In March, 2005, €2.7m was taken in a security van raid in Dublin.