A man has been arrested in a connection with a fire in a homeless hostel in Dublin last night in which six people were injured.
One of them, a woman, is in a serious condition in hospital.
The blaze broke out just before 6pm yesterday evening at the service operated by the DePaul charity on the junction of Little Britain Street and Little Green Street just off Capel Street in Dublin's North Inner city
Six units of Dublin Fire Brigade brought the fire under control.
The man arrested is in his 30s, and is being detained at Bridewell Garda Station.
The DePaul Charity which operates the 65-bed service said it was not fully occupied when the fire broke out.
It said the Dublin Region Homeless Executive emergency plan was activated last night, and alternative accommodation was found for the service users.
It says its priority is to support those affected by the fire, and that an investigation into the cause of the blaze is continuing.
Local Labour Councillor Joe Costello said he was concerned about the impact that the loss of the 65-bed unit would have on homeless services in the capital.
"Its a terrible tragedy that six people were hospitalised here and that homeless people should be rendered homeless again. 65 units is a lot of accommodation out of circulation and will be hard enough to replace.
"There's a lot of pressure on Dublin City Council in terms of accommodation, especially now with so many new people coming into the country there will be further pressure on Dublin City Council," he said.
A pub which operates across the road from the hostel cleared its premises of customers when the blaze broke out to provide a safe place for those who were evacuated from the building while they were waiting for alternative accommodation to be organised
Will Lynch, general manager of Bar 1661 said he saw flames and smoke coming from the building and people emerged from inside covered in soot.
"Everyone was in panic and shock. There was uncertainty as to where they would spend the night. A lot of them had medicines and belongings that they weren’t allowed to get out. We were just trying to make them feel at ease as much as we could."
