Diplomatic immunity cuts no ice for organised crime, as the Republic's EU Commissioner, Mr David Byrne, discovered when his car was stolen at gunpoint in Brussels.
Mr Byrne was not in his car when the theft occurred. His driver was waiting for him to emerge from the house of the Republic's Ambassador to the EU, Mr Denis O'Leary.
Just after 11 p.m. a man wearing a balaclava and armed with a handgun appeared and forced the driver from the car before driving off. The driver was shocked but uninjured.
The incident is not unusual in Brussels, where a spokesman for Mr Byrne reported that the Commissioner had said such crimes were at "`almost epidemic levels".
Gangs in the city steal luxury vehicles, such as the Commissioner's Mercedes S500, given to him in March and worth around £100,000, and export them to eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.
The previous Irish commissioner, Mr Padraig Flynn, suffered a similar indignity during his tenure as social affairs commissioner, as did Mr Byrne's predecessor as commissioner for public health and consumer protection, Ms Emma Bonino, of Italy.
During the period of the present Commission, an attempt has already also been made to steal the car belonging to Mr Loyola de Palacio, the Spanish Commissioner and Vice-President of the Commission.
Although Commissioners' cars are provided for them by the EU and carry Corps Diplomatique number plates, their drivers are simply drivers.