An Italian teacher who was threatened with a gun near one of Ireland's busiest tourist attractions has vowed to return to the "wonderful country" despite the incident.
Silvia Piantoni was on a trip to Dublin with students from Valle Seriana secondary school near Milan when the street attack happened on Monday.
Ms Piantoni and one of her students, a 17-year-old boy, were targeted near the Guinness Storehouse at Long's Place in the Liberties area at around 6pm.
CCTV footage of the incident shows the pair being targeted by a man who points a gun at them. A number of other men were also involved.
The 17-year-old student handed over cash from his wallet before going to comfort his teacher.
The party flew back to Italy on Wednesday and were pictured with Junior Minister for Sport and Tourism, Brendan Griffin at Dublin airport before they left.
Speaking to the Irish Star, Ms Piantoni said: "Despite the bad adventure, I would like to thank the Irish police and government for the support we received.
"We will come back with our students because Ireland has shown its solidarity and support," she said.
Ms Piantoni added: "We have been informed the criminals have already been identified, therefore, we are happy to have contributed to the safety of your country.
"We will come back soon, Ireland is a wonderful country".
The father of the student who was robbed, who lives in Bergamo, told the paper that the incident was a "very hard moment" for the teenager.
"He gave them all his money in his wallet and he showed them that it was empty," he said.
"After that he went to help the lady teacher who was also being threatened. She was frozen in fear but he looked after her".
He added: "I want to stress that my son has the highest respect for the people of Ireland".
It later emerged that one of the suspects involved in the robbery handed himself into Gardai after his mother recognised him from the CCTV.
The Italian father said: "I want to thank the mother for what she did, she did the right thing".
The suspect was due to appear in court yesterday.
