Extensive damage was caused to Allied Irish Bank's cheque clearing centre at Ashford House in central Dublin when a fire broke out in the building last evening. The blaze destroyed the fourth floor and filled the second and third floors with smoke.
A number of staff from accountants Grant Thornton on the top two storeys were safely evacuated.
Firefighters extinguished the blaze, believed to have begun accidentally, shortly before 7 p.m. Gardaí closed Tara Street to traffic, causing congestion in the city centre.
An employee of Grant Thornton, whose headquarters are in Ashford House, said he was sitting at his desk on the fifth floor when the fire alarm began to sound shortly before 7 p.m.
The man, who asked not to be named, left the building via a stairwell and saw smoke billowing from the fourth floor. He said: "It was black with smoke in there."
Seven units of Dublin fire brigade attended the fire, which broke out just around the corner from its city-centre headquarters.