Updated 17 February 

A NUMBER OF election candidates got caught up in an armed robbery while out canvassing in Carpenterstown this evening.

Green Party candidate Roderic O’Gorman told TheJournal.ie that the group he was with were gathering together when they noticed a woman in her car who was shouting something he couldn’t hear:

There was a lady beeping and shouting and pointing at the shop and when I looked over I saw two men bursting out.

“I went straight to my phone and dialed 999. The gardaí came after 7 or 8 minutes and we gave whatever details we could.

One of my canvassers and a Fianna Fail canvasser gave chase to the robbers.

The two men, armed with a gun and a machete, ran around to the edge of the car park and slipped through a gap in the fence into an estate.

The robbers threatened staff before making off with a sum of cash but it’s understood that nobody was injured in the incident.

Some Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael groups were also gathered around to canvass at the time of the robbery.

A spokesperson for the Health Minister said Leo Varadkar was walking into the shop when the robbers were fleeing.

O’Gorman added:

One member of our campaign team spotted the two men getting on the 37 bus into town and we called the gardaí again and they subsequently stopped the bus but the men had gotten off.

Later in the evening the group he was with also found a wallet in one of the neighbouring roads, which they have since handed over to the gardaí.

Anyone who may have witnessed the robbery is asked to contact Blanchardstown Garda Station on 666 7000.

Read: FactCheck: The truth and the lies from TV3′s Deputy Leaders’ Debate>

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