Stardust jury set to deliver verdict today

THE jury in the Stardust inquests have reached majority verdicts that will be delivered today, the foreman confirmed yesterday.

The verdicts will be delivered from 2pm after the coroner deferred the announcement to allow family members of the victims to gather.

Yesterday afternoon, the foreman told coroner Myra Cullinane that unanimous verdicts could not be reached, and she said she would accept a simple majority of seven.

Forty-eight people died in a fire at the Stardust nightclub in Artane, north Dublin, in the early hours of Valentine’s Day 1981.

Three people from Northern Ireland were among the dead, while 214 people were injured.

The inquests, the longest held in the Republic, have been sitting for almost a year.

More than 800 people attended the disco that night and, despite two inquiries into the disaster, nobody has ever been held responsible.

The seven women and five men on the jury deliberated for 11 days. Yesterday afternoon, the coroner asked whether the foreman thought it was possible they could reach an unanimous verdict, and he replied no.

The coroner then told the jury she could accept a simple majority of seven and allowed the jurors to continue their deliberations.

Fifteen minutes later, the jury returned and confirmed it had majority verdicts.

Ms Cullinane said she would defer the announcement of the verdicts and findings to allow interested persons and family members to make arrangements to attend court or watch online.

She asked the jury to return to court today, with formalities to get under way at 2pm.