SEVERAL fire crews attended the scene where smoke bellowed from the building for several hours. Photo: Ray Ryan

Fire won’t impact multi-million euro revamp of Tuam station

Gardai to speak to number of youths

Mark Walsh

Published: Wed 19 Nov 2025, 12:16 PM

THE fire at the old railway station building in Tuam won't impact the major €6.6million refurbishment project planned for the site.

A file on the incident, which happened after darkness on Tuesday night, is being prepared for the Garda National Youth Diversion Bureau.

Several units of Tuam Fire Brigade and from surrounding areas, along with the emergency services, were called to the scene of the derelict building shortly before 8pm last Tuesday. The blaze was brought under control and fire fighters managed to contain it to one room of the building.

The Tuam Herald understands that a number of youths, aged in their mid-teens, will be spoken to regarding the fire in due course.

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IRISH Rail say that the blaze was confined to one room in the building. RAY RYAN

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AN architect’s digital impression of what the redeveloped station building will look like.

An Garda Síochána have said that their investigations into the incident are ongoing, and that a file will be prepared for the Garda National Youth Diversion Bureau.

Galway County Council told The Tuam Herald that there wasn't any structural damage and that the regeneration project planned for the site can continue.

“We are still progressing plans with Irish Rail with a meeting to take place in the coming weeks to plan the next steps, including detailed design,” said Michael Owens, Director of Services with the local authority.

In September, it was confirmed that funding of €6.6million had been secured to allow the refurbishment and regeneration of the derelict Tuam railway station site to proceed.

The County Council was successful in its application to secure the major monies for the ambitious project which is aimed at kickstarting a new future for the disused station and surrounding lands.

Planning permission for the ambitious project is already in place. The reimagining of the site will include the construction of a new enterprise hub featuring individual enterprise suites, a podcast studio, café/canteen and a multi-use community and event/educational space.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Irish Rail said that thanks to the swift response of the emergency services, the fire was contained to one room in the derelict building.

“Initial indications are that this was a malicious damage incident,” the Irish Rail spokesperson stated.

Irish Rail said that one of the access areas used by the fire services was through part of the roof. “We will be securing any areas that require same following the incident,” added the spokesperson.