Cork TD calls for petrol bomb attacks to be treated as attempted murder rather than criminal damage

After spate of arson attacks in Cork, Thomas Gould called for 'stronger laws in relation to petrol bombing people’s houses'

The suspected arson attack at Siver Birch off the Rochestown Road early on Monday morning.

Petrol bomb attacks on people’s homes should be reclassified as an offence like attempted murder rather than as arson, with such incidents being in danger of getting lost in the statistics despite their severity.

That is according to Cork TD Thomas Gould, who claimed although arson could bring the maximum penalty under Irish law of life in prison, its classification as an offence causing property damage rather than people risks diluting the severity of the impact.

Arson is classed as a crime of criminal damage rather than as a crime against the person — like assault or murder.

“Someone petrol bombing your home, that is attempted murder," Mr Gould said. “There must be much stronger laws in relation to petrol bombing people’s houses."

Mr Gould said petrol bomb attacks have been alarmingly common in Cork in the last three years.

One house was targeted in Ballyvolane in recent weeks, Mr Gould said, while he is aware of at least four other petrol bomb attacks across the northside of Cork city in the last two years.

On Monday, a family fled a suspected arson attack at a home in Rochestown. One of the occupants of the house was a 13-year-old boy. His 24-year-old brother jumped from an upstairs window, injuring his legs and breaking his ankle, it is understood.

Criminal gangs are using arson as a tool of intimidation, and people who are not the intended targets sometimes become their accidental victims, he said.

“This is an ongoing issue in Cork,” Mr Gould said. "And it's gang violence.

I know two people who have either sold their house or are in the process of selling their house over it. It’s a terrible way to be living.

Although An Garda Síochána was asked for the latest arson figures for Cork, they were not supplied by the time of publication.

But arson attacks had increased by 20% from January to the end of June last year nationally, an increase of 20% from the previous year. This increase was partially caused by the spike in attacks on direct provision centres.

One recent arson attack resulted in the tragic death of four-year-old Tadgh Farrell, and of his great-aunt Mary Holt, aged 60, both of whom died in an arson attack in a home in Edenderry in December.

In another attack on a home, Alexis Campion, a 44-year-old mother-of-two, was doused in petrol and set on fire by an assailant when she answered the door to her home in Clondalkin, Dublin last November. She suffered such serious burns she was placed in a medically induced coma.

The Department of Justice said arson was covered by the offence of damage to property, under section 2 of the Criminal Damage Act 1991.

This makes arson a serious offence carrying a maximum liability of up to a life sentence. 

And where the offence is found to have been aggravated by hatred, any sentence given (other than a life sentence) is increased in accordance with the provisions in Section 2A of the 1991 act, the department said.

The 1991 act "makes a specific reference to endangering life and a person convicted under this provision can be sentenced to life in prison in such circumstances".

There are no proposals currently to amend the legislation, the department said.

"Sentencing is a matter for the courts, which are independent in the exercise of their functions. The law sets out the maximum sentence that can be imposed for an offence and it is then a matter for the court to decide the appropriate sentence in each particular case, taking into account all the circumstances."