The Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, and the Garda Commissioner are awaiting a full report on the circumstances in which a bank official and his wife were abducted and a ransom paid.
It is understood the Bank of Ireland's in-house security department in Dublin, known as the crisis management team, was involved in the decision to accede to the gang's demands.
Gardai in Donegal were notified. However, by the time they arrived at the Lifford bank at around 11 a.m. the bank official had already left with the money to pay to the armed gang, who were holding his wife hostage and threatening to kill her.
Senior gardai are concerned that criminal gangs may now be planning to target officials from banks and other cash-holding institutions because bank raids have been made difficult by modern surveillance and other inbranch security improvements.
In response to the threat, banks and other institutions which handle large amounts of cash have been improving personal security for senior officials. Banks have also been reducing the amount of cash held in branches to a minimum, particularly in rural areas, to offset the threat.
It appeared yesterday that the official abducted might have been selected because he holds a relatively junior position in the bank and would not be expected to have any elaborate security protection at his home.
The official, Mr Ryan Doherty, and his wife Elaine, were unhurt but said to be traumatised by their ordeal which began on Sunday night when three armed and masked men burst into their home at Summerhill Park in Strabane, Co Tyrone.
They were bundled into a waiting car and driven to another location in Strabane where they were held captive overnight.
At about 10 a.m. yesterday Mr Doherty was taken to a side street in Strabane, given a holdall and told to get money from the Lifford branch of the bank, just across the Border in Co Donegal. He was warned the gang would kill his wife if he did not comply.
Mr Doherty (23) used to work in the Lifford branch before he was transferred to Buncrana earlier this year.
It is understood he called a taxi and went to the bank in Lifford where management agreed to give him money after consultations with their headquarters in Dublin.
Gardai understand the total amount given to free Mrs Doherty was around £25,000.
Since the threat to officials working in cash-handling institutions has increased, it has become the policy of many banks to reduce the amount of cash being held in their branches.
After he had got the cash Mr Doherty returned to Strabane, where he was met by a man wearing a mask who took the cash. Ms Doherty was released, again near the centre of Strabane, about an hour later.
The Bank of Ireland refused to comment on the incident. A spokesman said: It is not our policy to comment on security issues."
A spokesman for Mr O'Donoghue said he was still waiting for full details of the incident before making any comment.
Garda sources yesterday conceded there is a risk that the Bank of Ireland's decision to pay a ransom before officers arrived could encourage other robbers to carry out similar abductions.
Gardai are aware that a number of gangs in this State, including some with members who were formerly republican paramilitaries, have been planning such abduction-robberies.
Yesterday the Dohertys, who were married only recently, were being comforted by family and friends after the RUC had finished questioning them. A Garda spokesperson said they were both seriously traumatised by their overnight ordeal.