Dublin home petrol bombing was second mistaken identity attack on same family, gardaí believe

Ellen O'Donoghue

The petrol bombing of a family home in north Dublin on New Year's Eve is linked to a previous incident at the same location, when a car was deliberately rammed into a house, investigating gardaí believe.

They are also reviewing other violent incidents, including house windows being broken, an assault, and a car ramming in Finglas, on suspicion that they are all part of the same campaign of violence over the past year, The Irish Times reported on Friday.

Arsonists attacked the wrong house for the second time when they threw a petrol bomb into the property in Finglas at around 12.45am on Wednesday.

Flames engulfed the three-storey property on Creston Avenue, Meakstown, Finglas, quickly, trapping two women in their 40s and 20s, and three children, a boy and two girls, inside.

The youngest child was able to escape and raise the alarm, and the other family members were rescued by neighbours and firefighters.

The eldest woman and the boy were left in serious condition in hospital, however.

Garda sources told The Irish Times that the victims were lucky to be alive after quick-thinking neighbours saw the flames and began a rescue effort.

According to The Irish Times, the person believed to be the arsonists' intended target lives in the Creston area and is linked to gangland criminals in Co Louth.

He has been targeted by a Dublin crime gang in recent months as part of a feud.

Attackers broke windows in Creston in one of the incidents last year, but, in the first case of mistaken identity, they wrongly targeted the family home that has now been gutted by fire.

The Finglas petrol bombing comes just weeks after a firebombing linked to rival drugs gangs claimed the life of Tadgh Farrell (4) and his grand-aunt Mary Holt (60).

Their home in Edenderry, Co Offaly, was targeted on December 6th in an apparent attempt to intimidate a man previously linked to the property.

A woman was set on fire at her home in Clondalkin, Dublin, two weeks earlier, after she was sprayed with accelerant in another drug-related intimidation act.

Though there were no fatal gangland shootings in 2025, for the first time in decades, gardaí are becoming increasingly concerned about drug-related intimidation, The Irish Times report said.