Three people arrested in connection with arson attacks

Three people have been arrested by gardai investigating an arson attack at a building earmarked for homeless accommodation in Dublin.

The former pub in Ringsend in Dublin was set alight on New Year’s Eve amid speculation it was going to be used to house international protection applicants.

As part of the investigation, four houses were searched under warrant on Thursday morning during an operation in the Dublin area, gardai said.

Two men, aged in their 30s and 50s, and a woman aged in her 20s, were arrested and number of items of evidential value were seized, including electronic devices, in the course of the operation.

All three were questioned at a garda station in the Dublin region.

On Thursday afternoon, the woman aged in her 20s was released without charge while the two men remained in custody.

It comes after a property in Leixlip, Co Kildare, was set alight in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

The house was rumoured to be planned accommodation for asylum seekers.

The building, according to gardai, was the subject of a “significant volume” of misinformation, disinformation and rumour in relation to its use or intended purpose.

The seven-bedroom detached house in Leixlip was wrongly linked to housing for asylum seekers.

It is the latest in a series of attacks on properties that have been linked to housing for refugees.

It comes days after vacant buildings in Brittas in Co Dublin were set alight.