Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
A SIGNIFICANT QUANTITY of cash was stolen from a restaurant run by a Masterchef Ireland judge last night.
The cash was taken during an armed raid on Dylan McGrath’s Rustic Stone restaurant on South Great George’s St in Dublin last night.
Two men wearing balaclavas entered the premises at about 11:30pm. One is thought to have been armed with a firearm while the other was wielding a knife.
Eight members of staff who were present at the time were all locked into a room while a large amount of cash was removed from the premises.
The suspects are believed to have left the scene on pedal bikes.
It is thought the restaurant had closed for the night and that no patrons were present at the time. No injures were sustained during the incident.
Gardaí have asked anyone with information about the incident to contact them at (01) 666 9000.
McGrath’s restaurant opened in August 2010, just over a year after his previous venture Mint in Ranelagh closed. The Ranelagh closure came only months after McGrath had won a Michelin Star for the restaurant.
McGrath is perhaps better known for his role as a judge alongside Nick Munier on RTÉ’s Masterchef Ireland, the second series of which begins in two weeks.
Christ whats the country coming to , a couple of summers with guns and a knife hold up a restaurant , threaten the staff and immediately the comments are its “got” to be an inside job….maybe just maybe the poor staff were robbed ??
Agreed, jumping to conclusions that its an “inside job” and that there’s no CCTV.
As stated the men were in balaclavas which makes CCTV null and void. It was all Ireland weekend as well as there being numerous other events this weekend which makes it obvious there’s going to be cash on site.
Time lock safes are a feature of banks and large dept stores etc, not one off restaurant ventures.
Jesus lets wait for the acts before making u
why does he not have a safe with a time release? sounds like an inside job. thankfully no staff were hurt.
You’d really have to wonder about the joined-up thinking on this stuff sometimes.
Ireland suffers from a high rate of cash-raids because there is too much cash in circulation because the banks are making debit card usage extremely expensive for both the retailer and the customer.
Our wonderful state-owned AIB, and other bailed out entities like Bank of Ireland all implemented bank charges for customers’ Visa Debit / Laser transactions again and the cost of taking transactions on a credit card terminal is still very steep compared to other jurisdictions.
If card usage were encouraged, it could save the state, insurers and businesses a fortune.
The technology’s in place, the cards are in people’s pockets, the only problem is the banks continue to incentivize the use of cash! You’d think they just enjoyed getting robbed or something the way they go on.
Cash-in-transit raids, raids on banks, etc it’s all because there are huge volumes of cash in circulation.
I don’t think Ireland has all this cash in circulation due some kind of ‘grey economy’ activity either. It’s force of habit and a tradition of making access to debit cards as difficult as possible.
Also, a lot of businesses that don’t take cards, forget that there’s also a significant cost in handling cash. Banks charge cash handling fees, you’ve additional security costs etc etc.
I’ve always been baffled as to why Irish petrol stations (also subject to a lot of raids) don’t just roll out chip and pin at the pumps and refuse point blank to take cash after midnight or whatever. It’s highly unusual not to have a debit card, and even if you don’t have a bank account you can get a pre-pay card to make emergency purchases like that.
Good point David , on the issue of petrol stations I was living in Florida for a few years and always liked being able to out the card into the actual pump , filling up and off you go , when I got back to Ireland and enquirer why such a simple and good use of technology wasn’t being used by the petrol companies here its because they WANT the customers to have to go into the actual outlet and sell them them the overpriced snacks etc , so any time I hear of petrol stations being held up For cash I’m afraid my sympathy has dropped way down , there is no joined up thinking at all.
That guys knew about the money, its got to be “part time” inside job. What about CCTV or Mad Chef does not have it on premises? I think what happens is, most restauranteurs in order to save money on security skip basic requirments and DONT install cctv and as a result have their money stolen – Сheap man pays twice.
More than likely wearing balaclavas and gloves ,CCTV no use so . Nothing to do with being cheap .
No the cheap part about this is not installing drop safes so the cash CANT be accessed.
Loads of bad incidents like this happning past few months time for government to get.tough on laws and maybe start recruiting more guards
Whatever about card payments, who is mad enough to keep as much as €10,000 on his premises? Night safes are provided by most bank branches and any amount above a few hundred of a float should surely be lodged?
Speaking of the CCTV, its logical that IF there is footage, this footage can be compared to other near by business CCTV ( outside premises), the thiefs wore particular clothing and believe me if u check the tapes from other cameras you can find footage and identify those men leaving and see what direction they went to and follow the tapes from cameras you might find the clue. It is CITY CENTER establishment, that corner MUST be on different cameras. Does that sounds logical or it does not?
I doubt that robbers simply were chancing their luck. Or were they? …
One could get started on all types of foodie double-entendres, but one must resist the temptation…..
Like ” a sticky pudding up”?
Or..”mash and crab”
have your say