Gardaí hunt four arson suspects on e-bikes for attempted murder

'Frightening' firebombing led to five adults, a three-year-old boy, and a baby girl being hospitalised

Gardaí suspect that Tuesday’s arson attack in Dublin's south inner city was carried out by a violent gang from the northside.

Gardaí suspect that Tuesday’s arson attack in Dublin's south inner city was carried out by a violent gang from the northside.

Seven people narrowly escaped with their lives, including a four-month old baby girl and a three-year-old boy. Garda sources described the firebombing as “frightening” and said it could have resulted in multiple deaths.

The attack took place at Clanbrassil Court, a small local authority estate just off Clanbrassil Street, near the Grand Canal. 

Four suspects, thought to be male, were gathered outside the family home at around 2am on Tuesday when they threw a petrol bomb through a window of the house. The group then fled the scene on e-bikes or e-scooters.

Speaking at the public meeting of the Policing and Community Safety Authority last week, Garda commissioner Justin Kelly said the possibility of causing deaths was not deterring organised crime gangs from arson attacks.

The attack is being treated as attempted murder by the investigation team at Kevin Street Garda Station.

It comes just three weeks after parents Kim and Philip English, and their two sons, 12-year-old Callum and nine-year-old Jayden, died in an arson attack on their home in Birchwood, Waterford city, on October 13.

Two more children were injured in that attack, which gardaí suspect was ordered by a local gang over a drug debt owed by someone close to Mr English.

Gardaí investigating the firebombing on Tuesday have been harvesting footage from the location, as well as along the escape routes taken by the bikes, to try and track their movements.

It is suspected the gang, based in Finglas, north Dublin, is in a long-running feud with a particular individual, who had been threat-assessed by gardaí and was informed of a risk to his life. Investigations are continuing to determine if this person has any connection with the house targeted.

It is understood that a grandmother in the house rescued the baby from the blaze and jumped from an upstairs window to save herself and her granddaughter.

Dublin Fire Brigade crews attended and put out the blaze, which had spread throughout the house, destroying it, and causing damage to neighbouring homes. The baby and her brother were brought to Crumlin Children’s Hospital by emergency services, while the five adults were taken to St James’s Hospital.

• Cormac O’Keeffe, security correspondent