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Large overnight fire destroys church

Pearse Doherty Shows a shell of a church with a firefighter on the left, a red hose to the bottom right and a grey skyPearse Doherty
What remains of St Mary's Church in Derrybeg following the fire

A church has been destroyed in a large fire in County Donegal, in the Republic of Ireland.

Five units of the fire service and gardaí (Irish police) attended the blaze at St Mary's Church in Derrybeg, Gweedore, and remain at the scene on Monday morning, Irish broadcaster RTÉ News has reported.

The fire was first reported at about 04:00 local time.

The church was built in the 1970s and is one of the biggest in the diocese of Raphoe.

Google St Mary's Church is a large grey and brown building that has a spire at its top. It has a number of windows at the front and has several plants and trees at its side. Google
The church was built in the 1970s and is one of the biggest in the diocese.

'A new parish church will rise again'

Monsignor Kevin Gillespie, administrator of the Raphoe Diocese, said he was "heartbroken" to see the destruction caused by the fire.

"I wish to express my support to Fr Briain Ó Fearraigh, parish priest, who has the full support of the community as he faces this challenge," he said.

He thanked the firefighters and police "from near and far in the county who did their very best to save the building".

"With the support of the community and the hard work of the clergy, a new parish church will rise again in one form or another.

"In the meantime, the life of faith will continue and will guide and sustain the parish."

Sinn Féin TD Pearse Doherty told BBC News NI that the whole community had been left "completely devastated" following the fire which has now been brought under control

"The chapel, this community house, has stood at the heart of the community for many years, many decades, and to see it gutted by the fire last night has been just devastating," he said.

"The people of Gweedore, the parishioners, are just gutted.

"We are just thankful that it was just physical damage that we are dealing with and not loss of life given the scale of the fire last night."

In a statement, An Garda Síochána (Irish police) said they helped firefighters during the operation in the early hours of Monday morning.

"There are no reports of injuries at this time," a spokesperson said.

"The scene is being preserved for technical examination and enquiries are ongoing."