‘All hell had broke loose after Stardust fire’ says retired Mater nurse

Biddy Duffy was on nursing duty at the Mater Hospital in Dublin when ambulances arrived with casualties from the Stardust fire in 1981.

The fire killed 48 people and injured a further 241 in the early hours of Valentine’s Day.

Biddy said Thursday’s ambulance fire outside Naas General Hospital in which a man died reminded her of the disco fire: “It really brought it all back to me. I know it was an ambulance but there was a man inside it, and two paramedics were trying to save him.”