Eugene Regan (Fine Gael)

I, too, warmly welcome the motion which we in Fine Gael hope will give some solace to the families of the victims of this extraordinary tragedy and achieve some closure and finality on the issues they have had to deal with for so many years. This motion, on which all sides of the House agree and which corrects the record of the Seanad, is not a triumph for politics. It is a triumph for the families of the victims of this terrible tragedy. As has been said, it has been an extraordinarily long road in trying to find satisfaction for the complaint identified as far back as 1985 by Mr. John Keegan, founder of the Stardust victims' committee, whose daughters Martina and Mary died in the blaze and whose wife and daughter, Antoinette, are in the Visitors Gallery. I welcome them to the House as well as the other persons present, ably assisted by Mr. Greg O'Neill, their solicitor. They knew something was wrong despite the inquiry by the eminent Mr. Justice Ronan Keane and they persisted in trying to find the truth. They organised an independent report and submitted expert evidence. RTE's "Prime Time" broadcast on the subject and then there was the Nothing But The Truth campaign. All of this led, ultimately but very late in the day, to the appointment of Mr. Paul Coffey SC, the barrister who carried out this excellent report.

We have many lessons to learn as parliamentarians from the work which the families of these victims did over the years since this tragedy. There was a lack of sensitivity by Government and a mean-spirited approach to compensation and care for the victims. There is an extraordinary conclusion in the Coffey report from which I want to quote a few lines. On 22 October 1985, it says, the Houses of the Oireachtas established the Stardust victims compensation tribunal, which made 823 awards. It says that in many cases the doctors were shocked, not to say indignant, that people who needed medical advice and treatment were left without it for so many years. This issue has been dealt with in this report by Mr. Coffey and in the motion before us.

That central finding of Mr. Justice Keane is so important. Mr. Coffey puts it very succinctly when he says, "the tribunal's finding of fact that the fire was probably started deliberately is on its face a mere hypothetical explanation for the probable cause of the fire and is not demonstrated by any evidence that the fire was started deliberately." He goes on to say that in the absence of such evidence the explanation cannot be demonstrated to be objectively justifiable.

This is the kernel of the issue and caused so much angst, hurt and so many problems for so many of the families of the victims. There was a sense that the victims may have been responsible for the fire in question. It is very important, and I welcome the fact that the motion corrects the record of this House in that regard.

The leader of our party, Deputy Kenny, has had a very direct involvement in this issue. Our local representatives have been very much involved with the victims' committee and the representatives of the families of the victims directly. We are humbled by this issue and the mistakes made. We hope that in this motion, which is supported by all sides of the House, in setting the record straight, we bring some satisfaction to the families of the victims and assist in some closure of the issue. They will have our continued support in following up on this motion and dealing with other live issues.