Attempted arson attack on Carndonagh homes for mica tenants

An attempted arson attack to burn down Council homes for mica tenants in North Inishowen is being investigated by An Garda Síochána.

The incident at a Carndonagh housing estate currently under construction in Barrack Hill beside the town's boxing club is believed to be racially motivated.

The 21 council homes will be used by mica tenants when their defective concrete social homes are being rebuilt.

The incident occurred last Wednesday morning, June 11, between 3.20am and 3.30am, when two men broke into the site, causing damage to the entrance fence. After getting through the entrance, they were unable to access the main part of the site due to security fencing. 

They were carrying two cans of petrol with them, which they dropped and left behind as they fled the estate. A separate incident also took place last week in which anti-immigration graffiti was sprayed on another Council estate under construction in Gleneely. 

North Inishowen Councillor Martin McDermott has condemned the incidents and said CCTV shows their “clear attention was to light the timber frame homes that were already erected.”

“We can’t have a situation where these people can get away with going in and trying to burn down social homes for our own people. I have been pushing very hard for the last three or four years to get social houses built – and when we do get them built, you have these types of things happening. We just can't tolerate that.”

In North Inishowen there are three Council estates currently under construction, to build 49 social homes, including 21 in Carndonagh, 19 in Gleneely and nine in Malin.  The Fianna Fáil Councillor said the incidents are disappointing, particularly against people looking to move out of their mica homes.

“The ones in Carn, we are hoping to use to relocate people who are in social defective concrete block homes to these new houses. This is so the Council can arrange to fix up the likes of St Patrick’s Park in Carn, Abbotts Wood, Carndonagh, Ard na Guala Duibhe estate in Moville and other places like that, which are in a very bad state of repair.”

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Over the last week, violence on the streets of Northern Ireland has occurred following an alleged sexual assault of a teenage girl in Ballymena on 7 June. Angry mobs took to the streets and police responded to rioters' petrol bombs and bricks with rubber bullets and water cannon.

Councillor McDermott added that the incidents over the border may have inspired or “hyped a few people up, but look these houses are social homes and there is no question about that. It hyped the whole thing up last week and I am sure people are anxious about those things as well, but we can’t allow our own houses to be targeted.”

Last week's incidents haven't caused a delay in building works, but Councillor McDermott fears further incidents could derail construction and he is urging anyone involved in such behaviour to have some “cop on or common sense. We are crying out for social houses at the minute and there are a couple thousand people on the social housing list in the county and we need social houses very badly,” he added.