Sinn Féin TD Martin Kenny has described the arson attack outside his home early yesterday morning as "traumatic and difficult".
The TD for Sligo Leitrim said that nobody should have to experience those events.
Speaking on RTÉ's Drivetime, the party’s justice spokesperson said if his burning car had been closer to his house, it would have melted the house's doors and windows.
Mr Kenny said that he and his family were asleep at home in Aughavas, Co Leitrim.
They were woken up about 2.15am with the sound of hissing and cracking outside. Mr Kenny said he saw the flames and his car was on fire.
He said the fire brigade came within 20 minutes, but the car was a ball of flame just three to four metres from the front door and there was panic in the house.
Mr Kenny, who has spoken of his support for asylum seekers to be accommodated in Ballinamore, said he does not "want to cast anything on the people there".
He said the situation has become "tense and difficult", but that there is no evidence to link this attack to protests in Ballinamore.
Mr Kenny said: "It has become very tense and very difficult. It has raised the temperature to somewhere where I never expected it to come to.
"It has been regrettable and irresponsible of some people, but I don’t want to go there. What happened to me here is a separate issue."
He added that he attempted to put a hose on the car, but it was pointless, and that the fire was so hot that it cracked a pane of glass on his front door.
Mr Kenny said the experience was very, very traumatic and he feels that the fact that someone did this has set a new low.
He said we are all entitled to have our views and have them challenged, but not challenged like that.
Asked if he was linking the attack to recent threats against him and the ongoing controversy over asylum seekers, Mr Kenny said he would rather not go there as this was now a garda investigation.
In relation to the asylum seeker controversy, however, he said the temperature had got very high and that was regrettable, but there are people who could be more responsible in relation to that.
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The Sligo Leitrim TD said that he believes that this incident should set a new line and we should move forward from here and calm down.
He said people should take a step back, take a deep breath and realise that there are consequences to everything we do and say.
He said it will not affect his role in politics and he has the support of his family in this.
Mr Kenny said he also believes that this has awoken a realisation in many people around the country that we can't go down this road.
"If they are prepared to attack a TD then who else will they attack?" he asked.
The Minister for Justice has said the attack was "an attack on all of us".
Speaking on RTÉ's Six One News, Charlie Flanagan said there are no circumstances under which this can be tolerated.
He added that an attack on a member of the Dáil was one on the democratic institutions of the State.
Mr Flanagan said there has been a "link forged between a public meeting and this attack" but he said this is "not reflective of the feeling in Ballinamore."
