EXCLUSIVE | 

West Dublin braced for major escalation in feud after arson attack on innocent family

The arson attack was carried out on an innocent family’s home to get at James ‘Nellie’ Walsh

Patrick O’Connell

Today at 16:00

Gardai in west Dublin are bracing for a major escalation in the feud between gunman James ‘Nellie’ Walsh and associates of jailed gangster Peader Keating – after it was confirmed an arson attack was carried out on an innocent family’s home to get at Walsh.

The property in the Buirg an Ri cul-de-sac in Balgaddy was set ablaze at 1.30am on Friday, with four occupants inside.

Three members of the family managed to escape but a fourth, a woman in her 50s, had to be rescued by hero gardai after she became trapped in an upstairs bedroom.

The attack on the property came just days after Walsh posted material on TikTok in which threats were made against Keating.

In the posts, Walsh shared an image of himself with the message: “30 bullets still alive, took six bullets and I’m still here – are yous ready?”

He posted an image of three men in balaclavas with the message “where come for yous rats” and another man in a car with the message “bang”.

He also branded Keating and three other men in his social media post as “rats”.

Keating, 42, is serving an 11-year prison sentence in Portlaoise Prison for directing the activities of a criminal gang in a plot to murder Hutch associate James ‘Mago’ Gately in 2017.

Walsh and Keating are involved in a bitter feud for a number of years that has already claimed four lives and resulted in two attempts on Walsh’s life in the past 12 months.

Last December, Walsh (36) survived an assassination attempt in a Carlow estate, where he had travelled from Wexford to buy a car.

And six weeks earlier, he also survived a machine-gun attack in Tallaght.

A tracker was placed on the vehicle that Walsh travelled in before the ambush in October at Donomore Crescent, Tallaght, in which multiple rounds were fired.

​On both occasions, gardai believe Walsh was “most likely” set up on behalf of criminals linked to Keating.

Walsh was released from prison last July after serving a 10-year sentence for a botched hit on gang rival Michael Frazer.

Frazer was shot in the car park of the Church of the Transfiguration in Clondalkin on March 26, 2014 — but managed to seek sanctuary at a Garda station.

During the attack Walsh shot himself in the leg while fleeing the scene.

While in jail, Walsh was also targeted in assaults and attempted knife attacks by his gang rivals — and he is considered one of the most under-threat people in the country.

A senior source stressed yesterday that the family of four whose home was targeted in the arson attack on Friday morning have no involvement whatsoever in criminality.

“The occupants of the property are people with no links whatsoever to criminality of any kind,” he said.

“On the strength of that, it was initially believed that the arsonist targeted the wrong house. But the main line of inquiry now is that this is linked to feud involving Walsh.”