The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dermot Ahern, has described the attack on two British tourists in Co Louth as 'despicable'.
He urged anyone with information to contact either the gardaí or the PSNI and end what he described as 'cowardly border attacks' once and for all.
The couple were attacked by three men with hatchets as they slept in their camper van in the early hours of this morning.
The couple were only in Ireland a few hours when they were attacked.
Two men aged 21 are being questioned by the PSNI in connection with the incident.
The woman, believed to be from Lincolnshire in England, is in hospital with a fractured skull and her 61-year-old husband sustained a number of injuries to his head and arms.
Both are being treated at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda.
The husband and wife had arrived into Northern Ireland on the ferry last night and had driven south, just inside the Republic, where they parked at around 11pm.
A gang of three men broke into their van and attacked them with hatchets at around 4am.
The couple were then forced out of the van which was driven back into Northern Ireland. The van was found burned out in south Armagh a short time later.
