I’ll keep fighting for the victims of Stardust in mum’s memory
Daughter’s hope for mam’s dying wish
A SURVIVOR of the 1981 Stardust fire tragedy has vowed on the anniversary of her mum’s death to keep fighting for the 48 victims.
Antoinette Keegan lost her sisters Martina, 16, and 19-year-old Mary when the three girls were trapped in a fire at the nightclub in Artane, North Dublin, on St Valentine’s Day in 1981.
Their mother Christine died last July after a decades-long campaign for inquests for the victims, which are now scheduled for October.
Antoinette told the Irish Mirror: “We are back in court to have confidential records cleared for access by us.
“We are hoping to get a result for our mother. The inquests would not be possible without all her campaigning.
“Before she passed away, mam kept asking about the inquests. She was a true fighter.”
Antoinette and the legal team for the Stardust victims’ families are due to meet with the Dublin City Coroner’s office on July 28.
They are expected to discuss European human rights legislation which lays out the right to life is protected in law.
Antoinette said: “We are meeting for preliminary hearings on the issue of human rights, that it is a human rights case.”
Meanwhile, the inquests will hear evidence, including eye-witness testimony about the tragic deaths of the Stardust victims.
Antoinette said: “It is going to be traumatic but there has been no offer of counselling to us. All the hurt and pain of the last 40 years will come flooding back.
“We will go my mother’s grave and celebrate her life, but also remember her fight for the 48.”
We are hoping to get a result for our mother ANTOINETTE KEEGAN YESTERDAY