‘It’s time for the State to apologise,’ say families after verdicts

Jury finds all 48 people who died in nightclub fire were unlawfully killed

The families of some of the 48 victims of the Stardust fire have called for a state apology after the year-long inquests into their deaths reached verdicts of unlawful killing.

There were emotional scenes at the Coroner’s Court in the Pillar Room of the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin yesterday as the verdicts were announced by the foreman of the jury.

The jury also found the fire in the nightclub in the early hours of February 14, 1981, started as a result of an electrical fault in a hot press, which spread because of flammable polyurethane foam in the seating, carpet tiles that had been used as wall coverings and the low height of a ceiling.

A lack of knowledge about the layout of the building, a lack of visibility due to thick smoke, the toxicity of the gases produced by the fire, the speed of the spread of the fire, the failure of emergency lighting, and the lack of staff preparedness were also factors in why it was difficult for patrons to escape.

The jury said exits were locked, chained or obstructed.

Coroner Dr Myra Cullinane said she hoped family members would take some solace that the fresh inquests were held, that the facts surrounding the deaths were examined in detail, that moving testimony from many of those involved was heard, and that the families felt involved in proceedings.

“The fact that these inquests have been held at all is in no small part due to the persistence and commitment of families over the years,” she said.

After the inquests concluded, some of the families walked to the nearby Garden of Remembrance in Parnell Square, carrying a banner with the names and photographs of the victims beneath the message “They Never Came Home”.

Alison Croker, sister of Jacqueline Croker, said: “I feel vindicated today that we’ve got truth. We’ve got justice, and now I think it’s time that the Irish State apologised to each and every one of us for the systematic abuse that we’ve been put through having to relive this ordeal over and over again.”

Maurice Frazer, whose sister Thelma

died in the fire, also called for a meaningful public apology from the State.

Antoinette Keegan, who survived the fire but lost two of her sisters, Mary and Martina, said she has spoken with Taoiseach Simon Harris by phone, and that she “100pc” supports the calls for a state apology.

“The verdict today and all the evidence that was heard during it showed we deserve an apology,” she said.

Also speaking at the Garden of Remembrance, solicitor for many of the families, Darragh Mackin, said that in 1981, the young people who died were “inhumanely identified by a number, were stripped of their integrity, dignity, stripped of basic human rights.”

He also said they had been criminalised, a reference to a tribunal in 1981 in which the chairman could not identify a cause of the fire, but commented it was probable arson.

“For four decades these families have fought the establishment,” Mr Mackin said.

“For four decades they fought for truth and justice. To refuse to fight would have been to lose. To fight is to win – and they did.

“Four decades ago, these families stood alone in the dark. Four decades later, these families are not alone.

“Today these families have made history. The truth of 1981 was that these young people were unlawfully killed. The formal record and the truth in 2024 is that these young people and children were unlawfully killed. The 48 that never came home, have now come home.”

President Michael D Higgins said the verdicts were “of the deepest importance for all those whose lives were so irreparably altered by that most appalling of days. Those who had, as relatives, to carry a terrible grief, made worse by questions left unanswered”.

Mr Harris said the Government would consider the verdicts and the recommendations of the jury in full.

An Garda Síochána said in a statement it would await the coroner’s report on the matter.