Councillor’s horror over house fire

Clare County Councillor Pat McMahon has spoken about his horror this week at learning that the house where he was born was the subject of a suspicious fire over the weekend, causing up to €50,000 worth of damage.
Councillor McMahon was shocked to the point of “denial” when he was contacted at around 7am last Sunday morning to say his family home in Newmarket-on-Fergus where he was born and raised was engulfed in flames.
Roseville House has been in the McMahon family for a number of generations but has been unoccupied for some time since the death of a family member.
The house was home to the five McMahon boys growing up and the Newmarket-on-Fergus councillor said he found it very difficult to see the place where he grew up with all its memories on fire.
“I was in shock when I saw it, I was in denial first and then shock with all the memories we had from there. It is a two-storey house and has been a landmark house in Newmarket for years,” he said.
The Newmarket-on-Fergus county councillor is the joint owner of Roseville House, which is a period house and has historical significance for the local community, as the house is believed to have been an officer’s quarters over 120 years ago.
“There’s a lot of damage done to it. The roof is gone and the inside and upstairs are very badly damaged. It would cost about €40,000 to €50,000 roughly to replace the damage that was done; that would be minimum because we need a new roof and a new stairs,” Councillor McMahon explained.
It took two units of the fire brigade until 1pm to bring the fire under control. Councillor McMahon said that strong winds on the day didn’t help the situation.
Asked what will happen to the house now he said “we will have to analyse the situation now because it is a period house there are different scenarios involved”.
Gardaí in Newmarket-on-Fergus are investigating the circumstances surrounding the fire, which they are treating as suspicious.
The fire is believed to have started around 6.45am on Sunday January 15 last and a full forensic analysis has taken place. Gardaí are awaiting the results of this examination.
Anyone with information is asked to contact local gardaí on 061 368172.