An artist whose home was severely damaged in an arson attack two months ago says he and his family are “apprehensive” about returning to their house.
Pat Curran (68) had fallen asleep on his couch early on May 21st when his home on Landen Road in Ballyfermot, Dublin, was subject to a firebomb attack. Gardaí say this was a case of mistaken identity.
His wife Breda and their son Luke (20) were asleep upstairs. The family escaped the fire, but their pet dog Zach died in the blaze.
arson attack on his home in a case of mistaken identity. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill
Mr Curran said extensive work was continuing at the house. They have been staying with family members and hope to return before the end of the year.
The artist, who is originally from Dolphin’s Barn and grew up in nearby Pimlico, has launched an exhibition in Dublin this week as part of the Liberties Festival.
His work focuses on the community and growing up in the Dublin 8 flat complexes. The exhibition is taking place at the Bank Arts Venue on James Street.
Mr Curran and his wife had no house insurance. A GoFundMe page set up to help repair their home has raised more than €56,000 to date.
“There’s work going on in the house every day. It hopefully won’t be too long and we’ll be back in,” Mr Curran said.
The property has been “absolutely gutted from top to bottom”, he said.
“They had to take everything back to the brick wall. They even had to remove some of the slates on the top of the roof. I never thought I’d see that, but there was so much smoke damage.”
But he is grateful for the “good people” who have offered their services, he said, saying that plasterers and painters living on the road had helped.
Mr Curran said he has not been back to his home recently as work has continued and he said he “can’t bear to go around to it”.
“I’m really apprehensive about moving in with what happened. Breda wants her home back and so does the young fella, but we just don’t know what way it’s going to be when we move back in,” he said.
“We’ve no real choice but to move back in; it’s been our home for close to 40 years and the people on the road really want us to move back in. That’s a lovely thing to feel.”
There is a “silver lining in everything”, he said, pointing to people being generous with their time. “I still think we are blessed to be here.”
Mr Curran said the exhibition, which opens on Thursday, is the culmination of six years of work, but does not include some of the damaged pieces he salvaged from the blaze.
“I decided against including those works,” he said. “I still have them. A woman kindly put them in her shed for me and maybe down the road I might, but at the moment I want to get away from all that.
“My immediate thought was to hold an exhibition of the stuff that was ruined. It would be very poignant, but I don’t want to be reminded of it all the time. I want to be positive and move forward.
“This exhibition is going to be a new beginning for me. My work is all about the city and people’s relationship to it and the people on the margins of society.”
Two boys aged 14 and 15 and a man in his 20s have been charged in connection with the attack.
