Criminal investigation after pipe bomb kills man in homeless hostel

Victim may have made the device himself, say gardaí

‘No evidence it had been thrown in’ ‘People on walking frames evacuated’

GARDAÍ are to launch a criminal investigation after a man died in a pipe bomb blast at a homeless hostel.

The victim, a Lithuanian man in his 30s, had been staying at the hostel at Little Britain Street in Dublin city centre when the pipe bomb went off, gardaí believe.

It was initially thought that a gas heater had caused the explosion but this theory has since been dismissed by investigators.

They now believe that the man was lying on his bed in the hostel when a bomb went off.

One avenue of inquiry is that the device had been improperly stored when it detonated.

Gardaí are now trying to ascertain why the device was in the hostel in the first place and if the victim had made it himself.

One senior source told the Irish Daily Mail: ‘At first this seemed to be just a tragic incident but last night there was evidence that a pipe bomb had exploded and that the man died as a result of this.

‘There was no evidence at all that the device had been thrown into the room where he was staying or that anyone had attempted to do anything of the sort.

‘At this point, gardaí are working on a theory that the man had either created the bomb itself or that he was storing it on behalf of some criminal gang. The man’s family is in the process of being notified.’

They added: ‘Gardaí are now conducting interviews with residents of the facility to try to find out who the victim had been speaking with in the last few days before he died as this will help officers develop a timeline to work off.’

Emergency services attended the DePaul homeless hostel at Little Britain Street, off Capel Street, following reports of a blast inside shortly after 3pm.

The explosion was confined to one room and there were no reports of any other injuries.

A controlled explosion was also carried out at the scene.

A total of 73 people are accommodated in the Little Britain Street hostel, which is for people with complex needs.

DePaul Ireland chief David Carroll said the building was evacuated within two to three minutes and that beds were found for the other service users.

‘We had people on walking frames who were evacuated from the building,’ he said, adding that he had a ‘great degree of pride’ in how well staff and service users responded.

He said he doesn’t have any details about how the explosion occurred and added that he wouldn’t be revealing any details about the man who died.

He said the damage was confined to one room. Mr Carroll also told

RTÉ’s News At One that ‘we’re hoping to get back into the building as soon as possible’.

‘That’s probably one of our main objectives at the moment,’ he said. ‘Our main objective really is to kind of support those individuals until we can get back in. They are all dispersed throughout temporary accommodation right through the city.

‘We’ve set up an incident management centre within our central office in Dublin city centre to be able to support those individuals over the weekend.’

Mr Carroll continued: ‘I mean, last night... it was remarkable that we were able to find beds for everybody last night.

‘What we’re focusing on at the moment is making sure everybody has their medication, making sure everybody has access to medical services and, obviously, welfare emergency payments because people left money and possessions behind.

‘So our Little Britain Street team will be supporting people right through that accommodation throughout the weekend until we can get back into the building.’

In March 2022, the hostel was subjected to a serious arson attack, leaving a 22-year-old woman with catastrophic injuries.

The fire, which was started by Keith Riggs, of Deanstown Avenue, Finglas, Dublin 11, left Shauna O’Brien blind and unable to breathe without assistance.

Riggs pleaded guilty to two counts of arson and one count of endangerment and was jailed for nine-and-a-half years.

After the fire, Dublin City Council paid over €2million to repair the hostel and house the residents elsewhere.