Dan Boyle (Green Party)

I was 18 on 14 February 1981 and with tens of thousands of my generation in hundreds of locations throughout the country we were in premises not unlike the Stardust - large, cavernous and dark with no indication of where we were to go or what we were to do in the event of something terrible happening. The overriding feeling of many of us subsequently was very much one of "there but for the grace". It very much informed not only attitudes of those of us of that age but also how the law changed. Previous speakers mentioned some of those changes. We also must be conscious that many changes are still necessary.

I commend the ongoing and often frustrating work of people involved in the Stardust victims' committee. In my seven years as an Oireachtas Member, I have received regular contact regarding its ongoing campaign. The depth of that frustration could still be felt up to a number of months ago with a degree of uncertainty as to what was to happen to this latest report. The positive response it has received vindicates the many years of campaigning. With other speakers, I happily accept the recommendations, particularly those relating to the implication that people who were victims may have been considered the creators of their own deaths and injuries. It is important that this aspect has been cleared because it has been a cloud hanging over the events that occurred in the Stardust.

In order to progress these issues and in memory of those who needlessly died and were senselessly injured, we need to consider how to improve our legislative canon. There is no doubt that fire safety has come about. However, one of the horrors of the Stardust fire was the number of victims, despite the fact that it happened in our capital city where emergency services were at their highest levels in terms of access to fire brigades and ambulances. We still live in a country where responsibility for emergency services is very much decentralised and, depending on where in the country one lives, one's access to these services remains a lottery. The question of whether we should have a national fire service and how that should be resourced is fundamental to avoiding incidents like this in future.

We also need to review our civil code. Unlike other jurisdictions we continue not to have a crime of corporate manslaughter. While not indicating anything regarding this series of events, we also seem to avoid the fact that an individual or a corporate entity might be responsible. Our laws do not properly reflect the need to take that responsibility and accept legal liability.

In the 28 years since the events of 14 February 1981, insufficient supports and recognition have been offered. Today's motion "supports the Government in establishing a Committee to monitor the counselling and medical needs of the survivors and bereaved". Making that call is an acknowledgement that those needs have not been met as they should have been to date. Through making these statements and the efforts the Government has made in recent times, I hope that finally an appropriate level of support can be offered.

The most important element in recognising the memories of those who died is to ensure that events like this can never happen again. While there is a fear that the possibility exists that it might, our efforts as public representatives should be that, in terms of both legislation and appropriate resources for emergency services, such events never happen again. Now that my daughter has passed the age I was on 14 February 1981, I hope that the subsequent generation will never experience what the 48 people who senselessly died and those who were horrifically injured had to suffer on that day.