A woman remains in a serious condition in hospital after she was set on fire in Clondalkin, west Dublin.
She suffered serious burns after she was sprayed with an accelerant and set alight after she answered the door at a house in the Oak Downs area just after 10am on Tuesday.
The woman’s face was badly burned in the attack, it is understood. A man was also taken to hospital with injuries he suffered during the incident.
Gardaí are trying to determine how the attacker travelled to the scene, though it is suspected he was on a motorbike. Although the investigation into the attack is still in its early stages, gardaí believe significant planning was involved and it appeared to be targeted.
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Sinn Féin councillor for the Clondalkin area, William Carey described the incident as “depraved”.
Because a lot of thought and planning had gone into such an attack, it was essentially “attempted murder” he told RTÉ Radio’s Morning Ireland.
People in the area were “angry, annoyed and shocked” at the level of violence in the attack, he added.
“It was a quiet morning in the area, nobody expected anything like this to be happening in our area. It’s quite an idyllic type of estate, a lot of private homeowners, a lot of hardworking people and to have this happening on the doorstep is completely shocking.
“The sense of depravity involved in this attack is quite frightening and it has people doubly shocked at the level of violence because this is not the type of thing we would expect in the area here.”
Cllr Carey, who is also chair of the Oak Downs residents’ association, urged anybody who had information about the attack to contact gardaí.
“I wouldn’t say this would be an issue that we would expect to see or hear within the area. It’s not a big crime area.
“Recently at our residents association meeting we had the local community Garda in attendance and he described incidents that are occurring in the area as very low key.”
Cllr Carey said he lived less than 150m from the house where the attack happened and he was concerned that at the time the local creche had been bringing children to a park “and this is what they almost passed.”
Anyone who was in the Oak Downs area of Clondalkin between 9.30am and 10.20am on Tuesday and who may have video footage, including from a dashcam, is asked to contact gardaí.
