GardaÍ are investigating an arson attack on a building in Leixlip in Co Kildare in the early hours of this morning following rumours linking it to accommodation for asylum seekers.
Honeywood, a seven-bed dormer bungalow, has been badly damaged after it was set on fire before 1.30am.
It is the second such attack this week after a vacant nursing home was burned out in Crooksling last Sunday.
An incident room has been set up at Leixlip Garda Station and a senior investigating officer has been appointed.
Gardaí say they have no information that the building was going to be used to house asylum seekers, but protests were held outside the property and an attempt was made last week to burn it out.
At around 1:30am this morning gardaí were called to the property along with local fire services who brought the blaze under control.
No one was in the building at the time and no one was injured. The scene has been preserved for a forensic examination.
Gardaí are now appealing for anyone with information to contact them.
They have specifically appealed to people who were in the area of Forest Park and Celbridge Road between 12.30am and 2am and those with dashcam or mobile footage to contact them.
Last Sunday a former nursing home Crooksling Co Dublin went on fire.
It was the 18th such fire on a premises that was either rumoured, or being considered, to house international protection applicants since January 2023.
At least four of those building fires – in Ballybrack, Finglas and Ringsend in Dublin, and in Fethard in Co Tipperary, had not or had never been considered for international protection accommodation.
