Gardaí in Roscrea, Co TIpperary, have evacuated a large section of the town centre following what they are describing as an incident this afternoon.
They say a man in his 50s who is not from the area but who has been living in the town for a number of years remains in a two storey terraced house on Rosemary Street which he is refusing to leave.
Gardaí say they were alerted to an incident at the house at around 1.30pm this afternoon and that a unit responded.
A spokesman said from what the unit saw they were satisfied they could not deal with it themselves, they withdrew from the scene and a security cordon was established in Rosemary Square.
Emergency services have been at the scene since then and at least a dozen people are sleeping in alternative accommodation tonight.
Gardaí have confirmed that members of the Army bomb squad are on standby if required and that telephone negotiations with the man are continuing.
There is no indication that any firearms are involved.
Gardaí say they will not be taking any overt action to end the matter. They have appealed to the man to end the situation peacefully.
They say the man has raised issues of a personal nature which they want to address.
