A 30-year-old man has appeared in court charged with raping two young girls in Athlone over the weekend.

The victims, aged 6 and 9, were allegedly lured away from a birthday party on Saturday afternoon and the pair managed to escape.

Shortly afterwards, three men were arrested. Two of them were released without charge.

There was a large Garda presence outside Longford District Court ahead of this morning's court appearance.

It follows a heavy garda presence outside Athlone garda station last night where the accused was being held, as crowds of up to 200 people gathered to express their anger about the attack.

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has been charged with four counts of rape.

Dressed in a black jacket and jumper and jeans, the 30-year-old accused was flanked by three officers in court with one from the Armed Response Unit.

The court heard he was charged at Athlone Garda Station at 7:45pm last night with 4 counts of rape against the two victims and he made no reply.

Judge Seamus Hughes accepted a request for a psychiatric evaluation and ordered that the accused be placed on suicide watch and be afforded all of the necessary protection in custody because, he said, we live in the real world.

Concerns were raised by both the prosecution and the defence about media coverage of the trial and Judge Hughes said he had every confidence that the public would allow the legal process to take place.

The accused was remanded in custody to appear at Harristown District Court on Friday morning. Outisde the court, a crowd of around 25 people jeered as he was driven away.

Newstalk's Louise Kelly was in court and spoke to The Pat Kenny Show from Longford.