The Garda and PSNI believe the same gang of arsonists was responsible for two separate attacks along the border between Derry and Donegal, in which a Presbyterian church hall was destroyed and a masonic hall slightly damaged.
The Greenbank Presbyterian church hall at Quigleys Point, Co Donegal, was destroyed in an early morning fire yesterday. The building, which is over 150 years old, was used as a social, community and badminton hall and had only recently been upgraded by members of the 34-strong congregation.
The Rev Gilbert Young returned home early from his holiday with his wife, Dorothy, yesterday afternoon to inspect the damage to the hall. "This is just terrible and it will have a very severe impact on my congregation," he said.
"It was the congregation's social centre and was also used by people of other religions for badminton nights and community nights. We had recently stripped the walls down to the stone and replastered other parts of the building in preparation for a major extension. We had planned to have two fund-raising nights next month to pay for the extension. We will still need those fundraising functions, but now for a different reason altogether," said Mr Young.
"We are a small community and we mix well with all of our neighbours and I know the wider community here is also very saddened," he added.
Congregation member Mr David Rankin was one of the first on the scene of the fire.
"Fire appliances from Carndonagh and Derry were already here when I arrived just before three o'clock. Then the hall was ablaze with flames leaping high into the sky.
"The oil tank at the side of the hall had melted and some of the fuel caught fire, setting fire to parts of the ground and to a hedge and cutting off electricity supplies to local houses. It will take us some time to get over this," he said.
Meanwhile, two hours earlier and six miles away in the village of Culmore, just inside the Border towards Derry, an off-duty fire officer reported a fire in the Victoria Hall masonic hall.
The front door had been forced in and accelerant was used to set the building on fire. The inner hall and the main hall were scorched.