Renewed calls have been made for a better security presence at hospitals following yesterday's armed raid at a banking office on the campus of St James's Hospital, Dublin.
The raid was the second violent incident involving firearms at Dublin hospitals in the past fortnight.
A security man was injured during yesterday's incident in which raiders escaped with an estimated €180,000 in cash from a Bank of Ireland ATM office.
Gardaí said two men, one armed with a hand-gun and the other a hatchet, held up a security van at the site at about 8.25 a.m.
No shots were fired but one of the security men was said to have been struck with the firearm.
Gardaí said he was admitted to hospital suffering from severe shock and distress.
The incident follows a raid last month on Tallaght Hospital's A&E department by armed men. They had sought to free a remand prisoner from Clover Hill who had been admitted there under prison guard. A gun was put to the head of a prison officer during the incident.
A spokeswoman for the Irish Nurses' Organisation (INO) said the incidents highlighted the need to implement new security measures, including the extended use of swipe cards to limit access to treatment areas, improved lighting on campuses and increased use of CCTV cameras.
She said funding was available for such measures under the national pay agreement, the PPF. "Anywhere there are staff members on duty 24 hours a day we want security cover 24 hours a day. We are saying the money is there - implement it."
Following a strike over the issue by A&E nurses in March, security audits have been undertaken at more than 40 acute hospitals throughout the State to identify system weaknesses and to suggest improvements.
A report by independent security consultants in May underlined the need for improved security measures, pointing out that a number of patients tended to be substance abusers. Verbal assault and threatening behaviour tended to be the most common forms of assault.
The INO noted that security audits had already been completed at a number of hospitals, including St James's where 19 extra CCTV cameras were recently installed. The INO spokeswoman said St James's had been "ahead of the pack" as regards implementing security recommendations.
