Artist Pat Curran stands in his sitting room in Ballyfermot appearing lost for words. His hands are black with soot as he points to the corner where he was sleeping over a week ago when a petrol bomb was thrown through his front window.
“I would equate it to waking up in hell,” Curran recalls.
The 68-year-old had fallen asleep on his couch in the early hours of May 21st when his home on Landen Road in west Dublin was subject to an arson attack, in what gardaí said was a case of mistaken identity.
Curran’s wife Breda and their son Luke (20) were sleeping upstairs. The family managed to escape, but their dog Zach died in the blaze.
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“I woke up to the sound of breaking glass and fire spreading all out in front of me,” says Curran. “I started screaming to get the others up and I tried to put the fire out by throwing a blanket on it, and stood on it.
“I’m actually lucky, and I don’t say this lightly, that I didn’t think I was in a nightmare and went back to sleep, because that’s what it was - nightmarish.”
Curran, who is originally from Dolphin’s Barn and grew up in Pimlico, has been living in the area with his wife and their children for more than 30 years.
Breda, originally from Bluebell and a social care worker, says she awoke to the sound of crashing, and could hear shouts.
“I could hear Luke screaming saying ‘What’s wrong with Dad?’ I jumped up and as I was running down the stairs I could see the heat and I said ‘Oh Jesus, it’s a fire’.
“We ran outside to the front as we have a hose with a tap. I was trying to get in to the fire, calling out for the dog, but there was fire coming from everywhere and I couldn’t see him.”
Neighbours called the Fire Brigade, who arrived within minutes to put out the blaze, while Breda and Luke were treated for smoke inhalation.
Curran’s eldest son John plays footage on his phone from the property’s Ring doorbell of the attack. It shows a person setting a large petrol can alight and throwing it through the house’s downstairs window. Screams can be heard from Pat and Luke in the video, which Breda says she has been unable to watch.
The couple have no house insurance, and a GoFundMe page has been set up to help repair their home. The family have spent recent days clearing out the house, including going through Curran’s artwork, most of which was damaged in the fire.
They are currently staying with relatives, while Curran, whose work focuses largely on community, plans to hold an exhibition of the burnt paintings in the future.
“You have that stigma, people saying ‘nothing happens for nothing’. But out there in the community, everybody knew straight away, everybody knew it was mistaken identity,” he adds.
“The police said they couldn’t tell me anything about the investigation, they just said ‘it wasn’t meant for youse’. I never really felt old, but this is after taking lumps out of me.
“But it has also renewed my faith in the people of Ballyfermot, the community spirit that has been shown to us. People that don’t even know us have been supporting us, as well as the art world.
“It’s very hard to come out of this with your soul and mind intact. I think there will have to be counselling down the road, when you think of the devastation that’s after being wrecked upon us. It will take a long time to get over this.”
