Gardaí are investigating a suspected arson attack on the former Crown Paints factory in Coolock.
The fire broke out just after 9pm last night and was brought under control by Dublin Fire Brigade.
The site was being renovated to accommodate over 500 International Protection Applicants (IPAs) and had become the focus of protests and violence.
The property was not badly damaged but gardaí preserved the scene overnight.
The fire broke out in the lobby area of one of the disused factory buildings.
Thick black smoke and flames could be seen coming from behind a wall at the former Crown Paints factor on the Malahide Road.
Gardaí and public order units arrived at the scene along with three units of Dublin Fire Brigade which contained the fire and brought it under control.
Gardaí have begun a criminal investigation into what they suspect is an arson attack on the site which was due to be converted into accommodation for 550 international protection applicants.
The property has been the focus of protests, violence and vandalism this week and a digger which had been brought on to the site last Monday was burned out in a separate arson attack.
The Malahide Road remained open and no injuries have been reported.
It is understood that security staff were removed from the premises following an attack earlier this week during which a security guard was injured and taken to hospital.
Thirty people have been arrested in connection with the disturbances in Coolock this week, 19 of whom have been charged and are before the courts.
There have been more than 30 suspected arson attacks on properties designated or wrongly believed to be for international protection applicants in the last six years.
Arson attacks on properties linked to migrants, homeless people and those seeking international protection in Ireland first came to public prominence six years ago in Donegal when The Caiseal Mara Hotel in Moville was burned out in the early hours of 25 November 2018.
It was set to become a direct provision centre for 100 people.
The following year The Shannon Key West Hotel in Rooskey on the Roscommon/Leitrim border was burned out followed by an arson attack on an apartment complex in Ballinamore, Co Leitrim which had been due to accommodate asylum seekers.
The pandemic saw a lull in these attacks but they began again in late 2022 when the Kill Equestrian Centre in Co Kildare which had been proposed as a location for Ukrainian refugees was set on fire. There had also been protests outside the building.
However there has been a significant escalation in these arson attacks in the last two years with some of the attacks rooted in disinformation.
Rawlton House in Sherrard Street, Dublin, was burned out in January last year following false claims online that it was to be used as a direct provision centre.
Four months later in May, tents belonging to homeless international protection applicants at a makeshift camp on Sandwith Street in Dublin were set on fire following anti-immigrant demonstrations.
There were also two more arson attacks linked to anti-immigrant sentiment that month in Buncrana, Co Donegal followed by an attack in July on a former Gaelscoil in Ballincollig, Cork and at Ridge Hall in Ballybrack, Dublin in August.
There were three suspected anti-immigrant arson attacks in Dublin during the riots in the capital on 23 November.
A petrol bomb was thrown into a premises in Finglas, and the Holiday Inn Hotel in Dublin was also attacked because of a false claims of links to migrants, while four men wearing balaclavas and carrying petrol burned out an IPAS building in Sherrard Street at around 5pm.
The following month, in December last year the Ross Lake House hotel in Rosscahill in Galway which has not been in use for a number of years and was due to accommodate 70 asylum seekers was burned out.
So far this year there have been arson attacks on properties in Dublin, Longford, Wicklow and Tipperary. A former school in Fethard and a former guesthouse in Sandyford Road were burned out after claims spread online the buildings were to be used to accommodate asylum seekers.
A fire was lit at Trudder House in Wicklow and the Garda Public Order Unit was deployed there last April.
Last month two pigs were killed and their blood spread on another site near Thornton Hall in what gardaí believe was an attempt to keep people out.
Similar incidents have occurred in the UK and Europe and are used to prevent people of the Islamic faith from an area as they consider pigs unclean.
Over 70 people have appeared in court in connection with protests and violence surrounding the accommodation of international protection applicants all over the country.
Gardaí say further arrests and charges are expected in connection with the most recent incidents this year including in Coolock.
