Arson at five Cork city shops ‘very, very sad’

THE Lord Mayor of Cork Kieran McCarthy has said that a series of apparent arson attacks on shops on Sunday have caused shock in the city centre.

The alarm was raised before 5.15pm when Cork City Fire Brigade received a call to respond to a fire on Patrick Street.

That was followed by calls from four other premises in the city centre: Lifestyle Sports, on Patrick Street; Superdry, also on Patrick Street; Next, on Opera Lane; Boots on Half Moon Street; and TK Maxx, on Cornmarket Street.

Fortunately, there was no loss of life, Mr McCarthy said, adding that his thoughts were with the affected retailers.

“It’s very, very sad to hear that these shops were targeted,” Mr McCarthy told The Echo.

“It’s very important, now, that if people have information, that they come forward to the gardaí.

“You’d expect a Sunday evening to be a sleepy evening for the city ... so I think lots of us who are in around town are in shock that this could happen.”

Speaking on The Neil Prendeville Show on Cork’s RedFM, second officer at Cork City Fire Brigade Victor Shine said such incidents are “extremely rare”, and he commended the prompt response from staff at the stores.

“Arson in the city is very unusual,” said Mr Shine.

“We would occasionally get a single event, but multiple events like this are extremely rare

“And, in fairness, I must congratulate the staff … for how they dealt with the situation, extinguishing fire, keeping the situation under control, and using evacuation protocol and protecting the members of the public in their store.

“Luckily, there was nobody injured in this.”

While a major conflagration was avoided, Mr Shine said businesses are now grappling with the cost implications.

Investigations by An Garda Síochána are ongoing, Mr Shine said, but said that it is possible that just one person was involved.

“It possibly is a viable option that someone could go from shop to shop causing this mayhem in the city,” he said.

A Garda spokesperson told The Echo that gardaí are investigating “a number of incidents of criminal damage by fire at retail premises in Cork city centre” on Sunday.

“No serious damage and no injuries were reported,” the spokesperson said. “Technical examinations have been conducted by the scenes of crime unit.

“Investigations are ongoing.”