The incident happened last night.

Five children have been rescued after a van was stopped in Cork for driving erratically by a man on a busy motorway. Three Garda patrol cars were rammed and the armed Regional Support Unit was deployed to the scene where the children were eventually rescued and the driver was arrested, the Irish Independent reports. Two of the Gardaí had to receive treatment for non-life threatening injuries after the incident, which occurred near Mahon in Cork. None of the children rescued were reported to have been injured after the fight to get the man to stop driving the van. The alarm was first raised by a member of the public after it was reported that the van had been driving down the Dublin-Cork motorway in a bizarre and erratic way outside Fermoy. Gardaí then arrived at the scene but were left in disbelief when they discovered the van had a number of children inside. The driver refused to pull over and stop despite being signalled to and continued to Cork City. As they approached Mahon, three Gardaí patrol cars were rammed and damaged by the van, which led them to seek the assistance of the armed Regional Support Unit due to fears of the children's safety. The van was then stopped in the Carr's Hill area and the man was arrested at the scene shortly after 10pm. He is now in the Bridewell Garda Station where he is being questioned, with the children given precautionary medical examinations but thankfully, none were injured. The children found in the van are now being reunited with family members.