Stardust families renew inquiry pleas after review points to earlier fire deaths

Relatives of victims of the 1981 Stardust fire in Artane, Dublin, have renewed their plea for a fresh inquiry after a review of files revealed that up to five people were already dead far from where the blaze was originally thought to have started and before flames were seen there.

The families are now demanding the full report of the 1981 tribunal of inquiry and a 2009 review be withdrawn from public record, saying both ignored or overlooked vital evidence that would have uncovered the truth behind the disaster.

A new analysis of investigation files points to testimony by an employee at the nightclub who saw four young men apparently “sleeping” in an alcove 60ft from the seats where the 1981 tribunal concluded the fire, which killed 48 people nd injured 120, was deliberately started.

They were already in this state when the alarm was raised about the fire in the seats and were unresponsive when warnings sounded.

A fireman who entered the building also saw them, numbering them five, and five bodies were recovered in the same positions.

Families say they believe the young men were already dead or overcome by smoke and fumes coming from a fire overhead.

This evidence was available to the tribunal but no weight was attached to it as an overhead fire had already been dismissed.

The evidence was dismissed because of flawed maps and mistaken testimony which failed to acknowledge the existence of an upstairs storeroom holding flammable materials or to properly probe the role of electrical faults in the fire, and because of an over-emphasis on the seat fire which was the main blaze visible to occupants of the nightclub although people outside the venue saw a roof fire up to 20 minutes earlier.

Relatives raised these issues 10 years ago but the only concession made to them was a 2009 declaration that the 1981 tribunal was wrong to make a finding of probable arson.

That finding enabled the Stardust’s owners to get substantial compensation.

The finding of arson was corrected on the Dáil record but the families say the review process was also deeply flawed, not least in concluding that the cause of the fire could not be established.

Stardust survivor, Antoinette Keegan, who lost two sisters in the blaze, said the evidence of the “sleeping” boys showed vital information had been repeatedly overlooked for the past 34 years.

“The more we look, the more evidence we find. We know what caused the fire and we want a new inquiry to bring it all out. We’re not giving up,” she said.

The Department of Justice said Minister Frances Fitzgerald had appointed an official to liaise with the families.