Jesuit building damaged by fire

The headquarters of the Jesuits in Ireland has been badly damaged in a fire that destroyed the roof and much of the top floor.

Six units from Dublin Fire Brigade fought the blaze which occurred just before 1pm yesterday at Loyola House in Eglington Road, Donnybrook.

Roads were closed off in the area and traffic diverted as fire crews arrived at the scene.

The emergency services were alerted by Yong Su Kim, a South Korean postgraduate student at the nearby Jesuit-run Milltown Institute, who was the only person in the house at the time. He escaped unhurt, but was later treated for shock.

The cause of the fire is unknown, but it broke out in an upstairs room and quickly spread to engulf the upstairs section of the building and the roof, which was completely destroyed.

Loyola House has been the headquarters of the 200-strong Jesuit community in Ireland since 1956. The upstairs section of the building contains the education, finance and partnership offices along with the offices of the Provincial of the Jesuits in Ireland, Fr John Dardis SJ. They were shut for Good Friday. It is also home to four members of the order who were away on Easter retreat.

Fr Dardis described the damage done to the house as a "huge loss".

"I feel glad that nobody was injured or hurt, but it's a serious setback. We've been there for so many years and so many meetings and plans have taken place.

"We were in the middle of planning a few new initiatives and you look at what happened today and it has set us back. It is disappointing when a lot of those plans literally go up in flames.

"I feel really sad and upset about the place. It's a great place and carries a lot of history for us."

Fr John Dunne SJ, the superior of the community who lived in the house, said he hoped the fire will not have destroyed the huge number of files built up in the basement relating to the order's work in Ireland.

"The whole computer system will be destroyed with the water damage," he said.