Over 200 religious artefacts which had been feared lost in a fire at St Mel's Cathedral in Longford on Christmas Day have been recovered, the Bishop of Ardagh and Clonmacnois, Colm O'Reillly, revealed last night.

The artefacts were among some 500 objects which had been housed in the Diocesan museum located at the rear of the cathedral.

"It seemed at first that the entire contents of the museum had perished in the fire. I am therefore pleased to be able to announce that – thanks to the efforts of a team from the National Museum of Ireland who have been working at the site for the last few weeks – a significant number of objects have survived and have been recovered," O'Reilly said.