AN INVESTIGATION has been launched after more than 40 people had to be evacuated from a hotel in Cork city in the early hours of yesterday morning, following a fire in one of the bedrooms.
An inquiry is under way into the cause of the fire at the Victoria Hotel on Patrick Street.
Four units of the Cork city fire service attended the scene shortly before 6am yesterday. A fireman suffered minor injuries when tackling the fire.
The fire was contained to one bedroom on the top floor of the three-storey building. It broke out at about 5.50am and was under control within 20 minutes.
The fireman, who was treated in hospital for burns, was subsequently released.
Built in 1810, the Victoria Hotel is the oldest hotel in Cork city. Many leading Irish politicians frequented it, including Charles Stuart Parnell.
James Joyce recounted his stay in Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Winston Churchill also had dinner in the hotel during a visit to Ireland. The hotel has strong ties with the Gaelic Athletic Association, with the second meeting of the fledgling body taking place there on the December 27th, 1884.