Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

Sometimes when one comes into the Chamber to ask Leaders' questions, one is expected to be entirely political, but today I believe I speak for everybody in the House in saying I feel really saddened at the events that led to the death of two young boys and their mother yesterday evening in Firhouse.

I would like to refer to another tragedy in the House today because, in referring to it, I also believe I can speak for everybody in the House. The 25th anniversary of the Stardust tragedy was marked in the past two nights by RTE in compelling programmes that made heart-breaking viewing. All parents who watched them had their hearts in their mouths and as they watched they knew something the young men and women who were getting ready for a night out at the Stardust did not know, that is, that they would never come home. It is all too easy for those of us who are parents to thank God that they were not our children or that we were not involved. It is unimaginable for parents to think of what it must be like to live through such a tragedy for even one day without knowing the truth or the reason it occurred, yet the parents of the 48 young people who lost their lives in the Stardust have had to live through and endure not one but 9,000 days without knowing the truth and without closure on this tragedy, the saddest ever to happen in Dublin.

Nobody in this House can deliver the young lives back to their people — it cannot be done. One of the people directly involved said to me that when the remains were carried out of the Stardust, they were stripped of their clothing and, as a consequence, stripped of their dignity. The hundreds of telephone calls received from all over Ireland testify to the deep-rooted feeling that we should try to do something about this and bring a sense of finality and closure to those who have had to live with the consequences of the tragedy for 25 years.

I find it bizarre that a licensed premises with the same name as the one in which the young people congregated before the tragedy is opening this evening and that an application exists for a development on the same site. I know the families of those who lost their lives have sought a meeting with the Taoiseach for some time. He is not a person who shirks meetings. In the interests of doing something positive about this now, will he consent to attending a meeting with the families at an early stage? It is important that he should hear their views in light of whatever other evidence emerges on "Prime Time" this evening.

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