Trinity College feared Notre Dame-style fire would destroy Book of Kells

Taoiseach Micheál Martin viewing a copy of the 1916 Proclamation during a visit to Trinity College where he also saw the Book of Kells. Also pictured are then provost Dr Patrick Prendergast and Helen Shenton, librarian and college archivist. File picture: Julien Behal Photography

Trinity College warned of the risk of a fire like that which struck Paris’s Notre Dame Cathedral in an application for €25m in Government funding to redevelop its historic Old Library.

It said a “litany of destructive fires” at historic buildings around the world illustrated the risks of deterioration and damage to the library, which houses the Book of Kells.