A person who threw a petrol bomb into a family home in Finglas, North County Dublin targeted the wrong property. 

Early on New Year’s Eve, the arsonist chucked the petrol bomb through the downstairs window of the three storey property. 

It landed in the kitchen but the flames very quickly spread throughout the ground floor and then upstairs to the first floor.

Inside were five people, two women in their 20s and 40s, as well as three children. 

 “One of the kids was able to run out the hall door, as we understand it,” Irish  Times Security and Crime Editor Conor Lally told Newstalk Breakfast.  

“She was able to raise the alarm and then some of the neighbors then broke one of the windows upstairs, then encouraged everybody else to jump through the window down onto the street. 

“So, they did that and they were safe and then the older woman who was in her 40s, she became trapped inside.

“When the fire brigade arrived, they were able to go in and rescue her.” 

The house boarded up after the arson attack. Picture by: Leah Farrell/RollingNews.ie.

Mr Lally added that the family were “completely innocent” and it is believed the arsonist meant to target someone else in the neighbourhood. 

Gardaí suspect that the attack is linked to other incidents of violence in the area, including the ramming of a car into a nearby property.

“It is part of an ongoing campaign of violence targeted against the man who lives in the area,” he said. 

“But this house was targeted because the people who attacked it believed that they were targeting that person's house, but they actually got the wrong property.

“They also targeted the wrong property last year.”

There is CCTV in operation in the area but people who tend to carry out such violent attacks tend to wear scarves and hoods to obscure their identities. 

It means tracking them down is likely to be difficult and Gardaí have urged people with any information to come forward.

Main image: A burnt house. Picture by: Leah Farrell/ RollingNews.ie.