Church 'ransacked' in burglary

A parish priest says the sacristy of St Columba's Church in Ballinacrae was broken into

A church in Moville, County Donegal, has been "ransacked" during a spate of burglaries in the area, a parish priest has said.

Fr Eddie Gallagher said he received a call on Monday from the the police that the sacristy of St Columba's Church in Ballinacrae had been broken into and intruders attempted to remove a safe from a wall.

He said it was incredibly sad that the sanctuary of the church had been "defiled" in this way, but that he was thankful the intruders were unsuccessful in making away with anything of value from the church.

"No money is kept in the church, so no money was taken but drawers were opened, things thrown about the place and a door smashed open," he said.

Fr Gallagher said it was even more concerning that a number of burglaries on homes had also been reported in the area.

'An evil thing'

"I'm more worried about the parishioners who awoke in the morning to see their homes had been robbed," Fr Gallagher said.

"Children's Christmas presents were taken and in one particular case birthday money was taken from a house."

Fr Gallagher said this was "an evil thing inflicted on people" by those responsible.

In a statement, An Garda Síochána said they were investigating three instances of burglaries in the Moville area on Monday.