Gardaí probe far-right links to arson at potential asylum-seeker housing

Firefighters tackle a blaze at Crooksling, Dublin, last weekend. Picture: Dublin Fire Brigade/X/Twitter

Gardaí are building up “a pool of information” from separate investigations into 19 unexplained fires at properties linked to asylum seekers, which could reveal if there are any links to prominent far-right agitators.

The Irish Examiner understands that gardaí have identified around 15 “online players” with a significant profile in right-wing extremism in Ireland.

Senior gardaí and investigators continue to maintain that there is no evidence, to date, of any co-ordination or directing of arson attacks by far-right individuals or extremist political groupings.

This is in contrast to comments this week from Tánaiste Micheál Martin, who said there seemed to be an “organised campaign” to burn buildings and potentially threaten human life.

Gardaí at the scene of an arson attack on a property in Leixlip. Picture: Colin Keegan/Collins Dublin

Garda HQ yesterday issued a statement saying that 10 people have been arrested in relation to arson attacks since May 2023.

The statement followed recent comments from Government leaders about the need to target those responsible. It also follows reports in this newspaper earlier this week that no arrests had been made in relation to arson attacks on at least 17 properties in use by, or earmarked for asylum seekers.

The 10 arrests have been made as part of arson investigations, but the two arrests where charges have so far been brought were for criminal damage to a door in a direct provision centre in Kerry last month. 

Five other arrests were in connection with an investigation into criminal damage and public order incidents at a makeshift immigrant camp in Sandwith St, Dublin,  set on fire in May 2023, for which a file was with the DPP.

The remains of a camp at Sandwith St, Dublin, after it was dismantled and set alight in May 2023.  

There were three people arrested yesterday in relation to an arson attack on the Shipwright Pub in Irishtown, Dublin, last New Year’s Eve.

The three of them have since been released without charge. A woman in her 20s was released yesterday while two men, aged in their 30s and 50s, were released today.

There have been two suspected arson attacks in the last week, one in Brittas, south Dublin, on Sunday, and another in Leixlip, Co Kildare, on Wednesday. The Leixlip attack was the second in the space of a week on the same building after false rumours circulated on social media that it would be used to house asylum seekers.

Sources stress that arson investigations take time and should not be rushed.

Three people have been arrested in relation to an arson attack on the Shipwright Pub in Irishtown, Dublin, on New Year’s Eve. Picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins

“A lot of potential evidence, forensic evidence, is destroyed in the fire, so you are dependent on CCTV or someone in the small circle of knowledge naming a suspect,” said one source.

I know politicians want results, but you don’t want to force the hand of an investigation.

Another source said that many of the 10 arrests came within six to eight weeks of the incident.

Gardaí hope that with the increase in arrests they might get “closer to the players” in the far-right community in Ireland.

“We are starting to develop a pool of information and data as we get more information, conduct more searches, make more arrests, and take statements and analyse devices,” said one source, “and this is on top of the volume of online material.” 

Sources stress that the Garda assessment continues to be that the arson attacks are not organised or co-ordinated, but are “copycat” attacks by local individuals who see from incidents elsewhere that this is how to stop asylum-seeker accommodation opening up.

Investigators say local individuals may be following social media accounts of influential agitators and absorbing their rhetoric and anti-immigrant narrative,  effectively being "radicalised" by them into taking action.

However, gardaí have not yet identified any influential figure popping up in multiple cases.

Gardaí hope that if any of the arson investigation charges stick and people are convicted, it will have an impact. They have echoed concerns expressed by a number of politicians that someone could be killed in an arson attack.

They also fear that if someone is radicalised enough to commit arson they could also conduct other, more direct, serious crimes.