Two men have been arrested following an armed raid on a petrol station in Co Laois.

Two men in their 20s are being questioned this morning in connection with a heroin seizure in Co Laois.

The Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell has called an emergency meeting after Taoiseach Minister Bertie Ahern described the gangland situation in Limerick as "totally unacceptable in any civil society".

The mother of the two brothers abducted at gunpoint in Limerick city last Thursday night has spoken of her relief that her sons were released unharmed this morning.

The garda, who was shot dead following an aborted raid on the Allied Irish Bank in Abbeyleix, Co Laois, was a married man and in his forties.