Stardust families to challenge official stance on reports

Families of the Stardust fire victims are preparing to seek leave for a judicial review of the Government’s continued endorsement of two reports into the fire that they say are seriously flawed.

The families want the original tribunal report into the 1981 disaster and a follow-up 2008/09 review removed from the public record. They also want a fresh inquiry into the cause of the fire instigated.

They say that the reports represent an impediment to the setting up of a new inquiry because they rely on misinformation and misinterpretation that led the initial report to state that the cause of the fire was arson and the second report to state that the first was wrong and the cause could not be known.

Blaze survivor, Antoinette Keegan, whose two sisters were among the 48 young people who died at the Valentine’s Day disco 34 years ago today, said that it would only take a few days for an inquiry to hear the research that has been carried out by and on behalf of the families over the last decade, which provides an explanation for the fire.

However, Ms Keegan said the families were running out of time as their application to the courts for leave for review had to be made within weeks.

“All that’s stopping us is the money,” said Ms Keegan. “We need to find €750 for legal costs to make the application.

“It doesn’t sound a lot but we’ve had a lot of costs over the years.”

The latest effort by the families to push for a new inquiry comes as they prepare to remember the dead, and the more than 200 people who were injured in the disaster, at a special Mass that takes place today in St Joseph’s Church in Coolock, the north Dublin suburb where many of the victims were from.

Afterwards, they will lay a wreath at the Stardust Memorial Park.

Ms Keegan said the anniversary was always difficult and the frustration of being unable to lay the tragedy to rest made it more so.

“It’s exhausting,” said Ms Keegan. “Four days of hearings and we could at least say we got the truth out there.

“Four days after 34 years isn’t a lot to ask.”

However, Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald, whose department has been handling the families’ requests, indicated to the Dáil on Thursday that she remained to be convinced that there was a valid reason to inquire further into the cause of the disaster.

”It would be unfair to those who have suffered so much already to raise unrealistic expectations about what can be achieved at this point,” said Ms Fitzgerald.

Independent TD Terence Flanagan, who raised the issue, said he still supported the families’ call for a fresh inquiry.

“I will continue to work on behalf of the community to raise their concerns with the Government,” said Mr Flanagan.