Cork fire: ‘This building had a sad past but it deserved a much better future’

There was a sense of sad inevitability yesterday as plumes of smoke rose from the gutted remains of yet another historic listed building in Cork City devastated by fire.

After years of warnings and calls for action, it now appears almost certain that the blaze, which has destroyed the St Kevin’s unit on the grounds of the former Our Lady’s Hospital complex on the Lee Road, was started deliberately.

Lord Mayor Tony Fitzgerald, who stood alongside hundreds of onlookers on the banks of the Lee on Tuesday and watched the building burn, was among those to have, over the years, called for the site to be considered by various state bodies for housing development.