A man who doused the reception area of a north Dublin Garda station in petrol and set it alight will appear in Dublin District Court this morning at 10.30 a.m gardaí said.
The incident at Ballymun station happened at 11.50 p.m. on Thursday.
While damage to the station was minimal, a senior garda investigating the incident said it could have been much worse.
"It had the potential to cause serious damage to staff and prisoners in the station," Insp Gabriel McIntyre said.
"It was discovered very fast and extinguished very fast, but it could have gone the other way as well," he added.
Gardaí on duty at the station were alerted when they saw smoke in the reception area. They used extinguishers to quickly bring the flames under control.
A man in his late 20s who was known to gardaí was arrested close to the station and detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act.
Insp McIntyre said the attack was very much an isolated incident.