Hostage-raids timeline: Latest is first in more than a year

Thursday's kidnapping and connected robbery in Dublin marks the first time in more than a year that any high-profile event of such a nature has occurred.

This particular type of raid, in which an employee with access to large sums of cash is forced to hand over money while family members are held hostage, was popular among criminal gangs in the 2000s, but has since become less frequent.

Timeline:

September 25th, 2014: Shots fired during post office robbery getaway

Three armed men invaded a house in Seabury, Malahide at around 1am before taking hostage the postmistress of Bayside post office, as well as her daughter and an Italian student who was staying at the residence.

The gang eventually escaped from the post office with approximately €80,000, but one member was arrested after gardaí from the Emergency Response Unit shot at the getaway car when it failed to stop in Malahide.

November 6th, 2010: Brinks director taken hostage by gang

Bill Hoyne, who was a senior executive at Brinks Allied, was brought to the company's cash depot in Clonshaugh, north Dublin, after death threats were issued to his wife Shirley Hoyne while the pair were being held captive at their home in Monasterboice, Co Louth.

The gang made away with €170,000.

November 5th, 2009: Banks agree to new anti-raid measures

Following discussions with the Department of Justice and top-ranking Garda officials, banks agreed to new measures whereby employees would have limited access to large sums of cash in order to reduce the incidences of such robberies.

November 3rd, 2009: All-Ireland champion’s family threatened during robbery

In what was ultimately an unsuccessful raid, former Kilkenny hurler Adrian Ronan was escorted to his place of work at Bank of Ireland in Parliament Street, Kilkenny while his wife Mary Ronan and their three children were kept under surveillance by gunmen.

Mr Ronan retrieved a sum of money from the bank but the robbery was foiled. Ballymun native Stephen Freeman was later sentenced to 10 years in prison for his involvement in the crime.

February 26th, 2009: College Green raid nets €7.2 million

Bank of Ireland employee Shane Travers was forced to remove €7.2 million from the College Green branch in Dublin city centre after a group of six armed men burst into his partner's family home in Kildare and held a number of people hostage.

March 13th, 2005: €2.28 million stolen in Dublin raid

Cash-in-transit van driver Paul Richardson was held at gunpoint in his family home and told to go into work the next morning and deliver money to an armed criminal gang who had abducted his wife and two teenage sons.

Mark Farrelly and Christopher Corcoran, both from north Dublin, were later convicted of carrying out the robbery and were jailed in 2009, but their convictions were overturned in 2012 and the two men were found to be not guilty earlier this year following a retrial.