In the end, it took just two words - “unlawful killing” - to lift the crushing burden of the Stardust fire families’ decades-long pursuit for justice for their loved ones.
The verdict, delivered yesterday by the foreman of the jury into the inquests for all 48 young people who died in the 1981 nightclub disaster, was met with a wave of emotion in Dublin Coroner’s Court. Some family members jumped and clapped; others embraced each other; some remained in their seats, and wept.
Talking later, Louise McDermott - whose siblings Willie, George and Marcella perished in the blaze - offered a vivid description of what this “turning point” means for the families.
“I just want to say to the 48… we’re taking you out of the flames, the darkness and the smoke of the Stardust,” she said.
“We’re bringing you back to the sunshine and the light and the music and you’re coming back to us, to home.”
The inquests, ordered in 2019 after a long legal campaign by the families, were the longest ever held in Ireland. The contrast with the original inquests, held in 1982, couldn’t be more stark: they lasted just five days and were confined to recording the medical cause of the deaths, rather than examining the circumstances that led to the fire.
The scale and horror of the deadly inferno at the nightclub complex in Artane on Dublin’s northside also led to an inquiry, the Keane Tribunal, in 1982.
Its conclusion that the fire was “probably caused deliberately” - the implication being that either the dead or the survivors had committed arson - was strenuously resisted by the Stardust families, not least because it allowed the nightclub owners to claim compensation from Dublin Corporation.
The families of the 48 young people killed in the Stardust blaze in 1981 have been tenacious in overcoming the obstacles placed before them and now fully deserve a state apology
The Dáil overturned the arson finding in 2009, but for the families that was only a partial victory. They still needed the full facts of what had happened in the early hours of that fateful Valentine’s Day to be brought fully into the open.
That has now happened. The fire started due to an electrical fault in the hot press of the bar and was first seen “between 1.20am and 1.40am”. The jury determined that the foam used in seats, carpet tiles and the height of a ceiling contributed to the spread of the blaze. A lack of visibility due to black smoke, the toxicity of the gases and smoke, heat, the failure of the emergency lighting were among the factors that impeded exit. Doors that were locked, chained or obstructed not only prevented escape but contributed to the death toll.
The families who have been so tenacious in overcoming the obstacles placed before them now fully deserve a state apology.
