PUB takings from the St Patrick's Bank Holiday trade, the biggest spending occasion in the rural licensed trade since New Year, were an obvious attraction for the Dublin gangs marauding through the countryside in recent years.
They are becoming increasingly dangerous as they begin to meet resistance from Garda checkpoints and business owners armed with shotguns.
Tom Nevin, the pub owner shot dead while counting his weekend takings yesterday, had a legally held shotgun nearby but had no opportunity to use it. He and his wife, Catherine, were overpowered and robbed before Mr Nevin was shot in the side and died from his injuries.
The immediate suspicion was that the killing was another in the series of raids on isolated rural businesses by Dublin criminals. An attempt to rob a local golf clubhouse at about the same time fits the pattern of the gang's activities.
Robberies of shops, pubs, restaurants, filling stations, banks, post offices and hotels in provincial towns by Dublin gangs is one of the most prominent features of armed criminal activity in the State.
Rural businesses are easy pickings compared with their city counterparts, which are equipped with security equipment.
Several gangs are concentrating on rural robbery. One of the most dangerous is a group of young criminals, some of whom live in the Gallanstown area of Ballyfermot, who call themselves the "M50 Gang" after the motorway link between north west and south west Dublin which they cross to and from their night time raids in the countryside. There may be as many as 20 members.
This gang is believed to have carried out dozens of raids in the midlands and south east in the past two years. They normally use high powered cars, stolen in Dublin, which they later destroy.
Several smaller Dublin gangs carry out similar raids.
In response, gardai are engaged in a series of operations, mounting checkpoints and preparing pursuit groups, with the assistance of two Air Corps helicopters. But this has not deterred the raiders, some of whom are heroin addicts.
Recent raids carried by these groups include:
. March 11th: Three masked men armed with a shotgun, handgun and machete forced their way into Blake's Tavern in Mulhuddart, Co Dublin, two hours after closing time and robbed the owner of cash.
. March 7th: The brother of a filling station owner was shot in the side with a shotgun after being overpowered and abducted by raiders at Kilcock, Co Kildare. The man was badly injured but is recovering.
. February 21st: Masked and armed raiders stole £10,000 from a post office on John Street, Kilkenny, and then drove back to Dublin in a stolen BMW car.
. February 8th: Three men armed with shotguns took £700 in cash from Shanley's supermarket, Sallins, Co Kildare, and drove towards Dublin in a stolen car.
. February 6th: An armed man on a motorcycle stole £4,000 from a postal worker in Summerhill, Co Meath, and drove back towards Dublin.
. February 5th: Five armed raiders, believed to be from Dublin, held up staff and customers at the Minella Hotel, Clonmel, Co Tipperary, and robbed them off cash and jewellery worth £12,500. The raiders' car was found burned out at Lucan, Co Dublin. On the same night, armed men in a stolen car carried out three robberies at businesses in Athlone, Co Westmeath, and Rhode and Mount Lucas Co Offaly before returning to Dublin.