On Monday afternoon around 3:30 p.m. a fire broke out at the Islamic Al Madinah Prayer Hall on Talbot Street in central Dublin.
Large amounts of smoke quickly developed and Dublin Fire Brigade responded with several vehicles. Three people were evacuated from the building without anyone being injured. The fire has been extinguished, but the building has sustained significant damage.
Does not rule out connection between the trial and the fire
The mosque is the same one that the Algerian knifeman Riad Bouchaker visited shortly before the attack on Parnell Square on 23 November 2023, where he attempted to kill three small children and a childminder. The trial against Bouchaker (52) is currently taking place at the Central Criminal Court. He is charged with attempted murder and serious bodily harm, but denies guilt.
The police suspect that the fire may have been started deliberately and do not rule out that there is a connection between the ongoing trial and the fire. The police have asked the public for witness observations and videos from the area.
The Faizan-e-Madinah Mosque on Talbot Street, Dublin, has allegedly been set on fire. A man is believed to have thrown a burning 🔥 object into the building.
It has been a mosque 🕌 since 2008. pic.twitter.com/3fzxIkUvLI
— David Atherton (@daveatherton) June 29, 2026
The Irish Muslim Council condemns the fire as a «shocking petrol bomb attack carried out on a Monday afternoon in broad daylight».
So far no one has been arrested in connection with the fire.