The arson attack in Waterford, which killed four people and left two children in critical condition, is having a similar impact on the city as the Stardust fire had in Dublin, a Waterford councillor has said.
A murder inquiry is under way after Philip English (50s), his wife Kim English (30s) and two of their four children died when their home in Waterford city was intentionally set on fire in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
Two other children – a girl aged 14 years and a boy aged six – remained critically ill in Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) in Crumlin, Dublin, on Thursday morning.
The impact on the people in Waterford, Sinn Féin councillor John Hearne said, is comparable to the 1981 fire at the Stardust nightclub in north Dublin which killed 48 young people.
“The only way to describe it down here – and I was in Dublin during Stardust – [is that] it is as sad as that,” Hearne told RTÉ’s Today with David McCullagh.
Hearne said he knew Philip English well, as he had approached the councillor on a number of occasions for help with problems. “He was a lad who would be chatting all the time,” Hearne said.
The English family had reached out to several local councillors hoping to secure a council transfer to another home as they felt unsafe.
Gardaí suspect Philip English had taken on a drug debt incurred by an associate in an effort to keep him safe. It is thought the local crime gang which was owed money targeted the family, and was also behind an attack on the home last month.
Hearne said many families have approached him in the past raising issues around drug-related intimidation. He said some families have approached credit unions to get loans to pay off these debts.
He said people in Waterford have suffered assaults, violent hammer attacks and had fingers cut off in intimidation incidents designed to create “extreme fear”.
Hearne said he has helped families contact law enforcement over the intimidation, and that the main advice given to families is not to flee their homes and to attempt to keep a semblance of normality for children.
“We tell them not to keep paying [the gangs] or they will keep coming back.”
He said Waterford had seen intimidation incidents on drug debts of up to €70,000, and urged anyone in a similar situation to contact the Garda.
[ Deaths in Waterford attack put focus on increase in drug-related intimidationOpens in new window ]
Keith Leonard, the national director for fire and emergency management at the Department of Housing, paid tribute to the firefighters who rescued the two surviving members of the family while speaking at the Oireachtas defence committee meeting on Thursday.
“I would also like to pay tribute to the firefighters and emergency responders who attended the scene,” he said.
Leonard said the response of the fire service in Waterford “reflects the professionalism, skill and commitment members of our fire service demonstrate every day in the service of their communities, often in the most difficult of circumstances”.
“Our thoughts are with the English family and with all those affected across the community by this shocking event,” Leonard said.
Sinn Féin TD in Waterford, David Cullinane, said it was up to the State to make sure families under threat from drug gangs were protected.
“The level of intimidation, they rely on fear, they rely on silence, they rely on people not being properly supported, and the State has to come in behind those families and the State has to be there,” he said.
“It can’t be local politicians. It can’t be people who don’t have authority to help. It has to be all of those agencies that are equipped and resourced to support those families, but also to catch the perpetrators.”
Cullinane told Newstalk that, while he had dealt with the family in relation to health issues, he had not been aware of the extent of the intimidation they were experiencing. “The State cannot be fearful, and the State cannot be silent,” he added.