Fire crews have dealt with another blaze at the former Our Lady’s Psychiatric Hospital in Ennis.
The alarm was raised at around 11.30pm on Friday night when a section of the main building at Dulick on the Gort Road was reported to be on fire.
Three units of Clare County Fire and Rescue Service from Ennis station responded to the incident along with Gardaí. It was the second fire at the same building in the past year.
Fire crews spent several hours tackling the blaze before leaving the scene after 4.00am. Gardaí are investigating the circumstances of the fire.
The fire service has responded to several fires on the site since the former HSE psychiatric hospital closed in the early 2000s including one in 2017 and another in June 2022.
The building is a listed protected structure in the Ennis and Environs Development Plan and also forms part of an Architectural Conservation Area. The building was constructed in the 1860s.
Ownership of the site has changed hands a few times since the building was sold by the former Mid-Western Health Board in 2002. Separate plans to develop the 16-acre site as a hotel and a private hospital never came to fruition.
