Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

For those who died in the Stardust disaster and their families, yesterday's apology was welcome but was 43 years too late. I ask the Taoiseach and his Government to think of the 50 people who died so horrifically on Whiddy Island on 18 January 1979. Forty-five years, three months and 14 days ago, these victims went to work at the offshore jetty off Whiddy Island in Bantry Bay where they were left without rescue to die for an inordinate period before the ship exploded. In 2021, RTÉ's documentary "Fire In The Sky" told the story of what happened at Whiddy Island that night. Even then after RTÉ news coverage, the Taoiseach's predecessors, Leo Varadkar and Micheál Martin, and other Ministers failed to meet the families following repeated requests and shied away from making comments, even when former President Mary McAleese called for a State apology. It is now urgent that the Whiddy Island inquest be reconvened to established the real truth about how 50 people died. The families of those who died in the Whiddy Island disaster are like the Stardust families, are equally as steadfast in their pursuit of justice and are not going away. Will the Taoiseach meet with the Whiddy Island disaster families to at least acknowledge their suffering?

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