A Garda along with his pregnant wife and two young children narrowly escaped injury in an arson attack on their Dundalk home.
The family were in the house when the attack took place at around 11pm on Sunday.
One man threw a fire bomb, which set fire to trees at the side of the property.
The heat of the blaze cracked windows of the house.
The two children, aged six and eight, had to be taken from their beds and while the family escaped without injury, they were said to be extremely traumatised.
It was the third attack on the home of a garda in the Dundalk area in the last 18 months.
They have been linked to a drug gang in Co Louth with connections to organised criminality in both Dublin and Dundalk.
The Garda Representative Association described the attack as abhorrent.
Its president Jim Mulligan said it was "not acceptable that gardaí doing their duty are being attacked" .
"Someone could have died... and there would be a very different scene this morning," he said.
Gardaí are appealing for witnesses or anyone with information about the attack to contact them.
They are asking for people who were in the Bay Estate area of Dundalk between 10.30pm and 11.30pm on Sunday to contact them.
They are also seeking information on a white van seen in the estate at around 3pm.
The scene has been preserved for a forensic and technical examination.
