An Irish businesswoman who appeared on 'The Late Late Show,' Ireland's most widely watched chat show, to talk about the threat of crime after she was attacked in a burglary has been subjected to another vicious assault.

According to the Irish Independent, Regina Sweeney, 36, who is a personal friend of Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny, was tied to the stairs in her County Mayo home, then gagged with masking tape and hit and choked by two masked men.

The thieves reportedly fled when Sweeney, whose late father Liam Coady was a former driver for Prime Minister Kenny, managed to sound a panic button that she had on her, which set off an alarm and alerted the Irish police.

It's believed the attackers were in Sweeney's home for about two minutes. After they rang the doorbell Sweeney opened the door to see two men in balaclavas, who pushed her into her home and tied her up.

Sweeney reportedly runs a bridal boutique business from her and her husband Declan's home outside Castlebar, County Mayo. She was alone in the house at the time of the attack. Her husband is a police detective in Castlebar.

Sweeney is reported to have marks and bruising on her arms and her neck and is described as being in shock, but her physical injuries are not reported to be serious.

Police believe that it was not a random attack and that Sweeney was personally targeted, although the motive is still unclear. Her home is located nearby 20 other houses, which makes the attack in broad daylight all the more brazen.

According to the Independent the intruders also took a small quantity of cash from the house.

Sweeney had talked about her first ordeal on 'The Late Late Show' last month in a wider discussion about rural crime in Ireland.

In that attack, which happened on December 4 last, Sweeney suffered a hairline crack of her cheekbone, bruised kidneys and a shoulder injury.

In the original attack she also foiled intruders by setting off an alarm, but one of the men pulled her back, which caused her to lose her footing and hit her head off a wrought-iron coat hanger before passing out.

When she came to, her attackers were gone, with a substantial amount of cash. Prime Minister Kenny was reportedly 'very upset' when he heard the news of the second attack.