ARMED GARDAÍ HAVE arrested a man allegedly armed with a shotgun after he barricaded himself inside a creche in County Meath.

The man was arrested after the standoff in the Flowerhill area of Navan earlier today – there was no one else in the building at the time and no one was injured.

Gardaí have said that a man was arrested and was detained under the provisions of Section 12 of the Mental Health Act, 2001. A spokesman said investigations are ongoing. 

This is a power the gardaí have to arrest someone to prevent them harming themselves or others. It also enables them to have the person assessed by a qualified medical person.

Garda Headquarters had requested a media blackout during the incident in keeping with protocols developed following a previous fatal incident. This request is made to prevent the armed suspect seeing garda movements and to stop them seeing reports which may provoke them.

Today’s operation involved specialist gardaí from the Special Tactics and Operational Command (STOC) based in Dublin including the Emergency Response Unit, which is the garda’s lead firearms team. 

The National Negotiation Unit was also present as were members of the Armed Support Unit which is the armed response in the regions. 

An outer cordon was maintained by local uniform gardaí.