'We are sorry': Simon Harris makes State apology to families of Stardust tragedy

Forty-eight people were killed when the blaze ripped through the Dublin nightclub in 1981

Families of the survivors and victims of the Stardust gather outside Government Buildings in Dublin (Picture: Brian Lawless/PA)

Taoiseach Simon Harris has apologised to the victims, families and survivors of the Stardust tragedy, telling the Dáil that families had been through a "living nightmare".

Some 48 people lost their lives in the February 1981 fire at a disco in north Dublin. At an inquest last week, a jury returned a verdict that they were unlawfully killed. It came after four decades of campaigning by families and survivors.