Three men had a narrow escape after they became trapped in a burning house in Cork city yesterday morning, writes Louise Geaney.
Three units of the Cork Fire Brigade were called to the blaze at a three-storey house in Hardwick Street, near Patrick's Hill, after one of the residents alerted the emergency services.
The two Dutch nationals and an Irish man - all believed to be in their 20s - were unable to flee the building after they discovered the keys needed to open the locked front door were in the room where the fire started.
The heat of the fire was so strong the men were unable to enter the room to search for the keys and were forced to hang out a front window for air until help arrived.
Fire fighters broke through the doors of both flats and had to use breathing apparatus to battle the intense smoke to remove the men from the scene.
Two of the occupants were treated in hospital but later discharged.
In Limerick, an historic courthouse building was badly damaged in a fire that caused more than €100,000 worth of damage to an electrical shop and local authority offices writes Kathryn Hayes.
The roof of Rathkeale courthouse in Co Limerick - which is 100 years old - was damaged in a blaze which started at the back of an electrical shop located next door to the historic building on Monday evening.
The blaze started at 5.50 p.m. when a number of wooden pallets stacked up in a yard behind Hennessy's electrical shop caught fire.
The flames quickly engulfed the County Council building next door, causing damage to Rathkeale courthouse and the district offices of the council which are located in the same building.