Stardust mums must get justice before they die COMMENT: P14
Victims’ sister wants answers as new campaign starts
A WOMAN who lost three siblings in the Stardust tragedy has said her 82-year-old mother and other victims’ parents deserve justice “before they pass on”.
Louise Mcdermott was just 14 when William, 22, George, 18, and 16-yearold Marcella died at the nightclub in the Artane area of North Dublin on Valentine’s Day 1981.
The trio from Edenmore were among the 48 people killed and 200 injured in the blaze.
Families impacted by the tragedy gathered at the Pavilions Shopping Centre yesterday as a new “truth” postcard campaign demanding justice has been supported by 28,000 people.
Louise said: “Not one of the 48 have a verdict on their death certificates still after 37 years. So we want to know why?
“It would give my mother Bridget some closure, she’s 82 this year. She just wants to know a reason why? Why no one was held accountable?
“Why we don’t know the truth? They lied about how the fire started and what happened.
“My mother and Mrs Christine Keegan, who lost two daughters, said ‘I’m not getting any younger’ and they want justice before they pass on.”
The health care assistant said the campaign launched less than two weeks ago, appealing to the Attorney General Seamus Woulfe for a new inquiry, is “going fantastic”.
Louise, 50, added: “People were meeting here today and there were people that were in the Stardust that had never spoken about it and were here and were telling us about it.
“A woman beside me was just saying that people were scarred and injured and they could never talk about it.
“My father Jimmy couldn’t go back to work then.
Obviously being a fireman they wouldn’t let him go back to work so they gave him early retirement. “It just broke his heart, he deteriorated from then on and he had a stroke. “He blamed himself because he thought if he was working that night he would have got them out but he wouldn’t.” Louise slammed the “broken promises” from some politicians who she said were just looking for votes. But she praised others and added: “Tommy Broughan TD is amazing, he stood by us all the time. “The Sinn Fein supporters, the Independent TDS as well. “Lynn Boylan, Mary Lou Mcdonald, John Lyons, all of them have been fantastic.” news@irishmirror.ie Louise Mcdermott