Shortly before 11am on Wednesday morning, gardaí raked through long grass and weeds outside a house in Clondalkin, west Dublin.
Oak Downs, the estate where a woman had been sprayed with an accelerant and set on fire some 24 hours earlier, was virtually deserted, aside from gardaí attending the scene of the incident.
Houses surrounding the property had curtains closed and blinds drawn, while the door of the woman’s home was partially boarded over. Upstairs, one window was cracked.
The woman, aged in her 40s, who lived at the house with her partner, also aged in his 40s, remained in a critical condition on Wednesday, having suffered serious burns to her face and body.
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It is believed her partner, who also suffered burns as he tried to extinguish the flames, was likely the primary target of what is thought to be a drug-related attack.
On Wednesday morning, a woman smoking a cigarette glanced at the house repeatedly from a distance while she spoke to another woman. “We’re shocked,” she said.
One person sitting in a car said they were “scared” following the attack, referencing “young people going around”.
Several locals described the woman as “harmless”.
“It’s just so sad,” said one neighbour. “I just hope she’s going to be okay.”
Others living in the estate said there have been multiple incidents of intimidation at the house resulting in fear locally over the years. They had been “trying for a long time to get something done about it”.
“It’s absolutely horrendous,” a woman said, recalling emergency services rushing past her house on Tuesday morning. “It’s a lovely area, it’s just so sad. She’s harmless, she really is.”
Local Social Democrats councillor Eoin Ó Broin said he has received complaints alleging antisocial behaviour connected to the council-owned property within the last 12 months, which he had escalated with South Dublin County Council.
The council has been contacted for comment.
Mr Ó Broin described the attack as “brutal”.
“Some people say it’s giving Clondalkin a bad name, others are just shocked,” he said.
In the nearby village centre, Brian, a man in his 70s who wished to give his first name only, referenced drug-related intimidation in several local estates, saying he too was a victim.
“They don’t care, the people knocking on the door, they’re afraid of nobody,” he said.
He recalled receiving one such knock several years ago and being “threatened” when his child owed a sum of money.
“I’m a big bloke, afraid of nothing, but I was afraid,” he said
Brian, who has lived in the area for decades, said locals are in fear while those involved in intimidation are “fearless”.
“They’ve no fear, they’re not going to get caught. I don’t think there’s enough gardaí, you might see them after an incident, but you’ll see them dwindling down after.
“At the moment, there’s too much work for them, because they’re all undermanned.”
He believes the nature of Tuesday’s attack is a “new level”, saying: “What’s the world gone to? It’s gone mad. There’s nowhere safe now, you don’t even know who’s outside the door, that’s why everyone is getting those doorbell cameras,” he said.
The incident has put locals “on edge”, according to local Independent councillor Francis Timmons, who described the attack as “horrendous”.
“Whatever the circumstances, it’s absolutely beyond shocking that anybody would do that to another human being.”
