Armed gang hold up Skibbereen bank

Gardai in West Cork are searching for an armed gang which held up staff at the Bank of Ireland in Skibbereen this morning and made off with an undisclosed sum of cash.

The raid happened at around 11.15 am when two armed and masked men burst into the bank on Market Street and held up staff and made off with a quantity of cash.

The gang made their getaway in a stolen car but it broke down after mounting the footpath where they almost knocked down a woman pedestrian .

The two men then fled on foot to Hegarty's garage where they hijacked a car, ordering a woman from the vehicle at gunpoint and making off towards Ilen Street.

Gardai gave chase but lost the gang. Checkpoints have been pointed throughout west Cork as gardai try to apprehend the gang.

Supt Pat Maher who is heading up the investigation ahs apppealed to the public not to approach the gang who are armed and dangerous and instead asked them to contact garda immediately.

Meanwhile, gardai in Galway are investigating a robbery at a post office on Prospect Hill in the city.

The robbery took place at around 9.10am this morning. A quantity of cash was taken and a man was seeing fleeing from the scene. Nobody was injured during the incident.

Gardai are appealing for witnesses to the incident to contact Galway Gardai at 091-538000 or the Confidential Garda Line 1-800-666-111.