Gardai in Co Laois succeeded in freeing a family held hostage by a son armed with an imitation handgun, chains and padlocks. He also appeared to have been preparing a bomb.
The incident happened eight days ago, but the Garda did not release details to protect the identity of the family.
Gardai in Rathdowney were alerted to the incident by relatives of the family and discovered that a disturbed young man was holding his parents, two sisters and brother hostage and threatening to kill them.
Officers from Portlaoise, led by Supt Gerry Cadden and Insp Philip Lyons, joined local officers and surrounded the farmhouse.
After some hours the young man released his father and brother, and they were moved away from the house by gardai. The gardai then enlisted the help of a relative who telephoned the house and persuaded the young man to release his mother and sisters.
The family members were unhurt and they explained to gardai how the young man had acquired a realistic imitation semi-automatic handgun which he had bought through an Internet company. He had also gathered material from the Internet to make bombs and had acquired chains and padlocks.
It is understood the young man had become seriously disturbed, and gardai were concerned about the threat to the family's and his own safety.
The incident began shortly before midday and lasted more than six hours.
After a second round of phoning the house the young man emerged with the imitation handgun. He was overpowered by two detectives hiding outside, and the imitation gun was removed.
The young man was unhurt and was briefly taken into custody.
His family later decided that he should be committed to institutional care.