The Irish postal service has sacked a rural postmistress for not following security procedures during an armed robbery.

Bernie Moore has run the post office in Carrigans in County Donegal for 30 years.

In February 2009, three armed raiders held up the post office and got away with 80,000 euros from the safe.

As well as having her contract terminated, Ms Moore has been told that she must pay back the money taken.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, An Post said: "While we do not wish to comment on an individual case we can confirm that the issue in Carrigans involved ongoing failure to implement basic security arrangements.

"For this reason we terminated the contract of our postmistress in Carrigans.

"These security measures are in place for the protection of post office staff and customers.

"Failing to implement these measures puts all post office staff and customers at risk."