Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)

I thank you, a Cheann Comhairle, for the opportunity to raise the Stardust tragedy on the Adjournment. This issue is about people, the death of loved ones and families. The Stardust fire was a nightmare for all the families and they all need and deserve our sympathy and support. However, they need more than that and tonight I set out my clear position on the Stardust tragedy. I support the families of the Stardust fire tragedy in their quest for truth and justice. In this regard I call on the Government to honour the terms of Article 40.3.2° of the Constitution which states: "The State shall, in particular, by its laws protect as best it may from unjust attack and, in the case of injustice done, vindicate the life, person, good name, and property rights of every citizen".

I call on people to support the families in their call for a new Stardust inquiry which will include the new vital information. I also call on all Members of the Oireachtas to support the families of the Stardust victims and survivors' group. I am here to add another voice to their campaign.

The families of the victims have major concerns about the forensic investigation in the previous tribunal and the competence and integrity of the forensic team. There is a mixed agenda and people want to know if those who were criticised by Mr. Justice Keane were in a position to undertake an investigation.

Various questions arise. Why was the roof ignored? Antoinette Keegan and the families want to know the details of the wall types that would have been the perimeter of the storeroom at mezzanine level, detailing their density and height. Can they see the photographs of where the walls go right up to the roof ridge, because all pictures viewed show an 18-inch gap? The tribunal report states no gap existed. Can they have an explanation from Mr. Michael Norton as to why he said there was insufficient fuel in the storeroom to burn a black pipe? The outside witnesses do not concur with this having viewed the inferno they saw.

A resident took a photograph showing an inferno fire in the roof space some 26 feet above ground level. The photograph was taken at 1.40 a.m., yet the fire on the seat seen at 1.41 a.m. was only 18 inches high, a point previously stated by Mr. Norton, forensic evidence officer. He noted that the fuel in the storeroom would not be enough to burn the black pipe. Could he now realise that he under-estimated the fuel or knew nothing about its existence, and that this inhibited him explaining correctly the rapid fire spread as viewed by people outside the building and heard by many while the roof shattered? Antoinette Keegan and the families are disgusted by this and have made their views known to the Taoiseach.

There are serious questions for the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. The Department is wheeling out the same old mantra that there is no new evidence but does not want to disturb the status quo. Where does the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform stand on this issue? Has the Taoiseach read the material? The material is new. Three independent experts have said it is new. Senior counsel believe it is new. It does answer the criteria for a full public inquiry.

Concerning the case for a new inquiry, in a letter from the office of the Taoiseach received the day before yesterday, the Government seeks a further three weeks because it advises its examination of the technical and legal questions arising is not yet satisfactorily concluded. In response to that, the Stardust families believe that the original tribunal of inquiry reached conclusions in ignorance of crucial evidence. The tribunal of inquiry was deprived of vital information essential to the proper discharge of its terms of reference. Its efforts to determine the cause and rapid development of the fire were rendered fundamentally ineffective. It is no longer safe to accept that the findings of the tribunal on the cause and rapid spread of the Stardust fire have any validity. That too is the families' view and I strongly support their position.

A vitally important way in which the State vindicates the life of its citizens is to ensure that all unnatural deaths are fully and properly investigated. The European Court of Human Rights has held that it is an obligation of a state to ensure that all inquiries into causes of the deaths of its citizens are independent, effective, reasonably prompt, have a sufficient element of public scrutiny and that the next of kin must be involved. The strength of the new evidence is such that the families have been advised and believe that if available to the original tribunal it would have materially altered the outcome of the inquiry. While the original tribunal of inquiry has concluded, it is open to the Government to establish a new tribunal of inquiry with discreet and focused terms of reference.

Yesterday the families and their excellent legal team pointed to section 40 of the Merchant Shipping (Investigation of Marine Casualties) Act 2000 and section 66 of the Railway Safety Act 2005 which provide that the relevant Minister may direct that a completed inquiry be reopened. I urge the Minister and the Government to listen to the families of the Stardust fire tragedy and to do something now to end this sad situation once and for all.

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