Inquiry launched into death of garda

An Assistant Commissioner has been appointed to conduct a “comprehensive investigation” into the circumstances surrounding the death of a garda in Abbeyleix, Co Laois, yesterday afternoon.

Detective sergeant John Eiffe, a 40-year-old man with four children, was shot during a botched bank raid on the AIB in Main Street.

Garda Commissioner Pat Byrne has admitted that the only shots fired during the operation were fired by other members of the force.

A second garda was also injured and is recovering in Portlaoise General Hospital.

The dead man was part of a surveillance team that had tracked the movements of a Dublin gang following an earlier bank raid in Urlingford, Co Kilkenny.

Commissioner Byrne said the operation began when three cars arrived outside the AIB in Abbeyleix at 4.15pm.

Gardai confronted the men in the cars, who attempted to flee.

At least five shots were discharged during the commotion, all of them, it appears, from Garda weapons.

Four men were arrested at the scene and no firearms were recovered.

Two of them were later hospitalised for injuries sustained during their arrest.

The crime scene was sealed off immediately and a search for clues is ongoing.