{"id":180933,"date":"2025-12-08T11:17:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T11:17:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/180933\/"},"modified":"2025-12-08T11:17:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T11:17:07","slug":"edenderry-firebomb-that-killed-tadhg-farrell-and-mary-holt-was-designed-to-kill-says-ocallaghan-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/180933\/","title":{"rendered":"Edenderry firebomb that killed Tadhg Farrell and Mary Holt was \u2018designed to kill\u2019, says O\u2019Callaghan \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Garda\u00ed<\/a> have opened a double murder investigation after a young boy and his great-aunt were killed in a suspected petrol bomb attack on a house in Co Offaly<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The murder victims were named locally last night as Tadhg Farrell (4) and Mary Holt (60). <\/p>\n

Another women, who is in her 50s, was in critical condition in hospital having suffered extensive burns in the blaze at Castleview Park, Edenderry. It is understood she is Ms Holt\u2019s sister and the deceased boy\u2019s grandmother.<\/p>\n

Garda\u00ed believe a petrol bomb or similar was thrown into the house on Castleview Park in the town just before 7.45pm. The fire engulfed the end-of-terrace property, in a local authority estate. It appears the deceased were trapped in a downstairs room as a result of the fire.<\/p>\n

After the blaze was brought under control the remains of Ms Holt and her grandnephew, Tadhg, were discovered inside the charred property. <\/p>\n

Garda\u00ed suspect criminals involved in the drugs trade in the Midlands were behind the firebombing.. <\/p>\n

Garda sources said the incident was probably intended as an intimidatory attack and they did not believe the people at the property were the intended targets.<\/p>\n

However, Minister for Justice Jim O\u2019Callaghan said on Monday it was a \u201cmurderous attack\u201d that was \u201cdesigned to kill\u201d those living in the house.<\/p>\n

Speaking on RT\u00c9\u2019s Morning Ireland, he confirmed one line of inquiry is that it was carried out by those involved in the drugs trade.<\/p>\n

He said if this is the case, \u201cit just confirms that drugs are destroying societies, and people who get involved in drugs need to know that they will wreak devastation, not just on themselves, but on those close to them and families in the area\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was an attack that was designed to kill the inhabitants,\u201d he said, adding that garda\u00ed will \u201crelentlessly pursue the violent and dangerous criminals responsible for this murderous attack\u201d.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, Supt Liam Geraghty said garda\u00ed believe the house \u201cwas attacked\u201d by one or a number of perpetrators and the fire deliberately started. He added it was \u201ca reckless, callous and murderous attack on a family home\u201d.<\/p>\n

Fianna F\u00e1il councillor Claire Murray, who represents the Edenderry local electoral area, extended her sympathies to the family of the victims and those living in the Castleview estate. \u201cIt is hard to put into words how devastated people are. The loss of such innocent life is inexcusable. Edenderry is a darker place today,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The remains of the victims were removed from the house on Sunday and underwent postmortems by the Assistant State Pathologist Margot Bolster at the Midland Regional Hospital Tullamore. The house, which was gutted by the fire, was sealed off and declared a crime scene. <\/p>\n

The Garda Technical Bureau carried out an examination as part of the murder inquiry and was expected to return on Monday. Garda\u00ed have also carried out door-to-door inquiries. The process of gathering CCTV footage, in the hope it may have captured the attackers going to and from the scene, has also commenced.<\/p>\n

Garda\u00ed have opened a double murder investigation, led by a senior investigating officer at Tullamore Garda station. Detectives believe local people have information about the incident and have urged them, or anyone who was in the area at the time, to come forward.<\/p>\n

As part of the investigation, garda\u00ed are examining other violent incidents in the Castleview area in a bid to determine whether there are links to Saturday\u2019s fatal fire. The incidents in recent years include a petrol bombing, where it is believed the wrong house was targeted, and the discovery of a suspected improvised explosive device.<\/p>\n

An emergency-services team comprising personnel from the Offaly Fire and Rescue Service, National Ambulance Service and garda\u00ed rushed to the scene after the alarm was raised. However, although the fire was eventually brought under control, efforts to rescue those trapped inside were not successful.<\/p>\n

As part of the murder inquiry, garda\u00ed are keen to speak to anyone who was in the vicinity of Castleview Park, or nearby roads, between 7pm and 8pm on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Anyone who was recording footage in the area at the time, including drivers recording dashcam, was also urged to make that footage available to the investigation team.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Garda\u00ed have opened a double murder investigation after a young boy and his great-aunt were killed in a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":180661,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[45,42,43,8286,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-180933","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-an-garda-siochana","9":"tag-headlines","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-offaly","12":"tag-top-news","13":"tag-top-stories","14":"tag-topnews","15":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180933","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=180933"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180933\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/180661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=180933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=180933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}