Woman has lucky escape after home firebombed

Latest arson attack in area

A 45-year-old woman had a lucky escape when her home was destroyed in a petrol bomb attack in west Dublin.

Sources say the woman, who was the only person in the property at the time, was not the target of the gang that carried out the attack.

It is just the latest arson incident in the area and local gardaí have increased armed patrols as a result.

It happened shortly after midnight last Thursday when a suspect was observed smashing a window before throwing the bomb into the house and fleeing.

Significant damage was caused to the property at Buirg An Rí Terrace in the Balgaddy area of Lucan. However, the woman was not injured and escaped the house.

The blaze was brought under control by Dublin Fire Brigade after it helped the woman out of the house, which was left gutted.

No arrests have been made by gardaí who are investigating it as a “criminal damage by fire” incident.

Sources say detectives do not think it is linked to an ongoing criminal feud in the nearby Shancastle area of Dublin 22.

This bitter criminal dispute has led to a number of arson attacks on homes and cars this year as well as a number of serious assaults including stabbings, firearms incidents and attacks involving pipe bombs.

At the centre of the Shancastle feud is a close junior associate of notorious former crimelord John Gilligan, who a source said has been “running amok” for months.

“This individual, who is aged in his late 20s, is very much at the centre of a lot of violence that has broken out, including pipe-bomb attacks,” a source said.

His former mentor, convicted drug dealer Gilligan (72), was fined last September and given a suspended sentence by a Spanish judge after admitting smuggling cannabis and sleeping pills into Ireland and being in possession of a weapon.

His younger associate has been embroiled in a number of separate feuds in the Clondalkin area over the past decade and sources say that his behaviour has become increasingly reckless.

“A number of families have been caught up in this ongoing feud that has received very little publicity. It has been a miracle that no one has been killed so far in it,” a source pointed out.

“Certain criminal families have aligned themselves with each other which makes the situation even more dangerous.”

Another key participant involved in the feud is subject to special security arrangements and had to be moved from one Dublin prison to another because of the threat on him.

Since being jailed, a property linked to him has been burnt to the ground by his rivals.

This criminal, who has more than 70 previous convictions, is serving a significant jail sentence for kidnapping and torturing a man on behalf of ‘The Family’ drugs trafficking gang.