Gardai have confirmed to Northern Sound that they are treating a fire that occurred in Ballyjamesduff last week as arson.
In a statement issued today, Gardai say that they attended the scene of an incident of criminal damage that occurred at a premises in Ballyjamesduff on Friday the 8th of August.
The fire at the old vacant Percy French Hotel in the town occurred sometime after 3pm that afternoon. Local fire services extinguished the fire and made the area safe. Gardai say investigations are ongoing.
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Fine Gael Councillor, Trevor Smith has condemned the incident saying that it is not the first time the vacant town centre building has been set a fire. He says the news is very disappointing.
"I strongly condemn this arson attack on the former Percy French hotel in Ballyjamesduff. Unfortunately it’s not the first time the building has been targeted by criminal damage with arson and it's very disappointing."
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Future plans for the former hotel: "We are just on the cusp of the Percy French redevelopment program starting in the next few weeks. So we have to say it's very disappointing that another attempt was made on the former Percy French Hotel.
"I want to commend the quick response of the local fire brigade and that they were there within minutes and saved a lot of damage been done, but also personal vigilance by the person who called 999 in the first place. It was great that we have so many vigilant people locally who called the fire brigade who got to the fire before it got out of control."
