Stardust campaigner who lost three children in the blaze passes away

Bridget McDermott, the mother of three victims of the Stardust fire, who has died. Photo: Sasko Lazarov/RollingNews.ie

A mother of three children who died in the Stardust fire, and long-time campaigner for her loved ones, has died.

Bridget McDermott had long sought for justice for her children William, George and Marcella who were three of 48 young people who died in the Stardust fire.

A familiar face to anyone who has followed the Stardust story over the years, Ms McDermott was one of a number of brave, steadfast family members who campaigned for many years for fresh inquiries into the disaster that claimed so many lives in north Dublin in 1981.

For decades, these efforts were thwarted as the State refused the requests from families to finally get to the bottom of what had happened at the Stardust.

However, after fresh inquests were granted in 2019, it paved the way for a re-examination of the events of the early hours of St Valentine’s Day 1981, and the events building up to it.

Mrs McDermott was present on an emotional day in court in April 2024 when a jury returned verdicts of “unlawful killing” for each of those who died in the long-running inquests, the milestone of a decades-long campaign for fresh inquiries into the fire.

A year before, she had taken the podium at the start of the inquests in the Pillar Room on the grounds of Dublin’s Rotunda Hospital.

The beginning of the inquests saw the loved ones of each of the victims afforded a chance to stand up in court and describe their brother or sister, or son or daughter, what they were like and how their death affected their family.

It had heard of “gentle giant” Willie (22), the joker of the family Georgie (18) and the music-mad Marcella (16). All three of them went out that night and never came home.

In a passionate and dignified address, the McDermotts laid bare how the loss of their siblings affected the entire family for decades to come.

“She’d still leave a key in the front door for years in the hope one of them would walk through it,” her daughter Selina said of her mother.

Supported by her daughters, Mrs McDermott said: “They went that night and they never came home to me. I miss them and I love them. And god bless them.” Her words prompted tears from many watching in the public gallery and elsewhere in the room.

She passed away on Monday night at the age of 89.