A fire that broke out at the Tara Towers hotel on Merrion Road in Dublin this afternoon has been extinguished.
A spokesman for Dublin Fire Brigade said the alarm was raised shortly before 1pm and 12 units were dispatched to the scene.
Hotel staff evacuated the building and the fire, which was confined to a third floor bedroom, was put out. The window on the bedroom was blown out and there was black smoke damage to the front of the hotel facing the main road.
The fire brigade carried out a full search of the hotel and the all clear was given before 2pm.
There were no injuries reported and no guests or staff were taken to hospital. Some 90 of the hotel's 111 rooms were occupied.
"There is quite an amount of smoke damage throughout the building, mainly to the third floor and fourth floor," said Jim Sargent of Dublin Fire Brigade. "During the day people are out shopping and doing things, so it's difficult to get a full count so we searched the whole building. We didn't have to rescue anyone from the building."
It was not clear if the room with the fire was occupied.
Mr Sargent said it was a "successful operation" which was attended by some 40 fire officers and tackled from the inside with hoses and with a hydraulic platform and ladder at the front of the building.
Gardaí are investigating the cause of the fire.
One guest who was having lunch in the hotel when the fire broke out, described what happened:
"We were just in having lunch and the fire alarm went off and they just asked us would we leave the building, as there was a fire," said Carmel Shiel from Kilkenny.
"It seemed very organised, organised panic," and the fire brigade arrived within minutes, she said.
"We were surprised when we saw the smoke" she added. "Flames were coming out the window if it hadn't been dealt with it could have been serious."
Ms Shiel and her friend Eileen Doherty from Donegal were meant to be staying at the hotel tonight but were waiting to see if it would be open. "We are going shopping now," Ms Doherty said.
A spokeswoman for the hotel said it was "business as usual" this evening. She said the hotel has been able to accommodate most of the guests who were booked.
