{"id":118108,"date":"2025-11-02T19:01:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-02T19:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/118108\/"},"modified":"2025-11-02T19:01:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-02T19:01:09","slug":"gardai-believe-accelerant-used-to-start-fire-in-drogheda-asylum-centre-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/118108\/","title":{"rendered":"Garda\u00ed believe accelerant used to start fire in Drogheda asylum centre \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

An accelerant was used to deliberately start a fire at asylum seeker accommodation in Drogheda<\/a>, Co Louth, on Halloween night, garda\u00ed<\/a> believe. <\/p>\n

Four children and an adult had to be rescued from the top floor of the building on George\u2019s Street on Friday night, while 23 others were relocated to alternative accommodation. <\/p>\n

Some of the rescued children, including a 20-day-old and a 17-month-old, were taken to hospital for assessment.<\/p>\n

The incident has been widely condemned in the community and by leading political figures.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe scene of a suspected arson attack on a centre housing\u00a0asylum seekers\u00a0on George\u2019s Street Drogheda, Co\u00a0Louth. Photo: Bryan O\u2019Brien <\/p>\n

Despite initial reports from officials that the blaze was started by fireworks, garda\u00ed have since reviewed CCTV footage showing a person entering the premises and deliberately starting the fire on the building\u2019s staircase.<\/p>\n

The staircase is the only exit from the upper floors where the rescued asylum seekers were located. Garda\u00ed believe the nature of the incident will likely justify attempted murder or endangerment charges, as well as arson.<\/p>\n

However, no suspect has been identified so far.<\/p>\n

The incident occurred at the International Protection Accommodation Service<\/a> (Ipas) centre on George\u2019s Street at approximately 8.15pm.<\/p>\n

CCTV footage shows what appears to be a male figure wearing work gloves setting fire to the stairs. An accelerant sprayed on the stairs was then set alight, causing the fire to spread rapidly. The suspect then fled.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was an extremely dangerous act endangering the lives of the residents, including children, who were in their home at the time,\u201d garda\u00ed said in an updated statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cFollowing initial reports of the fire being started by the discharge of fireworks, investigations by An Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na to date indicate that the fire was started deliberately by person or persons unknown.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"FireFire damaged staircase in the IPAS centre Drogheda Co.Louth. Photo: Bryan Meade <\/p>\n

Nigerian-born Fine Gael representative Ejiro O\u2019Hare Stratton, who works at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in the town, said she visited those asylum seekers brought in for assessment in the aftermath.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have worked with families in the centre in my community work with [the support network] Hands4Unity. I know them very well,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I visited them [in hospital] … my heart just melted for them. There is a lady with a 20-day-old baby and a 17-month-old baby.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe kids that were trapped in that building when they saw me this morning they said: \u2018Aunty are we still going to celebrate Halloween?\u2019 I said we had to celebrate Halloween because we are alive. Let us celebrate it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe scene of a suspected arson attack\u00a0on George\u2019s Street, Drogheda. Photo: Bryan O\u2019Brien <\/p>\n

Garda\u00ed have set up an incident room in Drogheda to investigate the attack and are appealing for witnesses. An senior officer has been appointed to oversee the investigation.<\/p>\n

Garda\u00ed have asked anyone in the Georges Street area of Drogheda between 7.30pm and 8.20pm on Friday, or anyone with information on the incident, to contact Drogheda or any other Garda station. <\/p>\n

\u201cInformation may be provided in confidence to An Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na by calling the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111,\u201d they said in a statement. <\/p>\n

Minister for Justice Jim O\u2019Callaghan<\/a> said it had been a \u201cterrifying ordeal\u201d for those inside and warned of \u201cserious consequences\u201d for whoever was responsible.<\/p>\n

Ms O\u2019Hare Stratton, who has lived in Drogheda for 34 years, said the incident had left the residents she spoke to deeply upset.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople living in the centre are traumatised,\u201d she said. \u201cI hugged one of the ladies I visited [on Saturday]. She was emotional and I said: \u2018Don\u2019t cry. Let\u2019s look at this positively. We are alive. God was looking after us.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The assistant director of nursing at the hospital, Ms O\u2019Hare Stratton said the people of Drogheda were \u201chospitable and friendly\u201d. She said numerous members of the community had been contacting her with offers of assistance.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople have been asking if they need clothes, food and shelter. That is the spirit of Drogheda. There is an 18-month-old baby in hospital whose clothes were left behind [in the centre],\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe staff saw the children in hospital running to me this morning and they asked how I knew them. I said I knew them through my charity. They call me Aunty. That is Drogheda.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An accelerant was used to deliberately start a fire at asylum seeker accommodation in Drogheda, Co Louth, on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":118109,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[45,12210,61,32652,60,18573,9689,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-118108","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-an-garda-siochana","9":"tag-drogheda","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-international-protection-accommodation-services-ipas","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-jim-ocallaghan","14":"tag-louth","15":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118108"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118108\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/118109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}