Cork gardaí have begun an investigation after a family had a lucky escape when their house was petrol bombed in the third such attack in recent years.
A woman in her mid-40s and her six children, ranging in age from mid-20s to a one-year-old baby boy, were forced to flee their house at Meadow Park Avenue in Ballyvolane on the city’s northside when a petrol bomb was thrown through a downstairs window at 4.45am on Thursday.
The family were able to flee before the fire took hold. They raised the alarm and were examined at the scene by emergency responders and treated for smoke inhalation.
Gardaí say they are keeping an open mind on the motive for the attack, but it is the third time the family have been targeted after their home was previously petrol bombed in December 2022 and attacked with a grenade in September 2024.
READ MORE
On that last occasion, a hand grenade was thrown against the house and found unexploded in the garden the following morning. Both the family and up to 40 neighbours had to be evacuated as the Army bomb disposal team worked to make the grenade safe.
Gardaí have spoken to the family and efforts are being made to rehouse them. They have also begun door-to-door inquiries in the area and have begun canvassing houses in the estate for CCTV footage that might help them identify the culprit or culprits behind the attack.
This morning’s attack in Ballyvolane is the latest in a number of recent petrol bomb attacks in Cork city and follows separate and unrelated incidents in Ballyphehane and Rochestown on the city’s southside earlier this year.
On February 23rd, a 22-year-old man suffered serious burn injuries and his nine-year-old sister had to be treated for smoke inhalation when a petrol bomb was thrown through a downstairs window of a terraced house on Clarke’s Road in Ballyphehane.
A week earlier, on February 16th, a woman in her 40s and her 13-year-old son managed to escape unharmed from their home at Silverbirch on Monastery Road in Rochestown when a petrol bomb was thrown through the door of the property at around 12.30am.
However, the woman’s 24-year-old son suffered fractures to both ankles when he was forced to jump from an upstairs bedroom as the flames spread up the stairs and blocked his exit from the building.
