LAST UPDATE | 8 Feb
THREE PEOPLE HAVE been arrested in connection with an arson attack at a building earmarked for homeless accommodation in Ringsend in Dublin.
The old Shipwright Pub on Thorncastle Street in Ringsend was set ablaze in the early hours of New Year’s Eve amid speculation it was going to be used to house immigrants.
No-one was in the building at the time of the incident but there was substantial damage caused to the property.
Gardaí investigating the attack carried out searches at four properties in the Dublin area this morning.
Two men, aged in their 30s and 50s, and a women in her 20s were arrested, while electronic devices and other potential evidence was seized.
The woman in her 20s has since been released without charge.
However, the other two men are currently being detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1984 for alleged offences under the Criminal Damage Act at a Garda Station in the Dublin Region.
The Ringsend property was set alight after it was the subject of protests over false claims it would be used to accommodate asylum seekers.
Dublin Regional Homeless Executive had confirmed to The Journal weeks before the fire that it was working to bring the building into use as emergency accommodation for families who present as homeless.
This morning’s arrests bring to ten the total number of people who have been arrested for suspected arson attacks in recent months.
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