Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Fine Gael)

I stand today to speak regarding the correction of the Dáil record relating to the cause of the Stardust fire. The Dáil record will now read that there is no evidence that the Stardust fire was started deliberately and that the cause of the fire is unknown.

I welcome all the members of the Stardust victims' committee here today to witness the Dáil record being corrected. I and all members of the Fine Gael Party, led by Deputy Enda Kenny, who took a personal interest in the case and did all he could, wish to commend the work undertaken by the Stardust victims' committee in their fight for justice for the 48 victims of the Stardust tragedy. The conviction and courage which they displayed in their fight for justice is to be commended by this House. The committee fought a long and hard battle to get justice for the victims of this tragedy. To show its impartiality, it is often said that justice is blind; on the issue of Stardust it appeared sometimes that justice was deaf to the truth as well.

As a local Deputy and a person who grew up close to where the Stardust tragedy took place, I have been fully aware during the course of my life of the scale of the tragedy that took place on St. Valentine's Day 1981, when 48 innocent lives were lost and serious injury was caused to 128 others in the fire that broke out in the Stardust nightclub in Artane. Nobody from north Dublin was untouched by the tragedy. Families lost love ones, communities lost neighbours and those who did not know the dead lived in fear that the same could happen to their own family and friends.

I am very angry and really annoyed with the length of time it has taken the Government to amend the Dáil record. We would not be here today if not for the fight and determination of those in the Stardust victims' committee who refused from day one to accept the report of the tribunal of inquiry into the tragedy in 1981. There have been many dark days for those on the victims' committee, yet their determination has been relentless in trying to get the truth into the public domain as to what really happened on that night.

The manner in which the Stardust victims' committee was treated down through the years and even recently is nothing short of a disgrace. The pain of their loss was magnified by their anger with the length of time it has taken for these people to get some justice. The compensation awarded to victims' families was dreadful and pathetic.

Since being elected as a public representative, I have tried on all occasions to support the victims' committee in its quest to have the investigation reopened and to obtain the truth as to what really happened. The original tribunal report was flawed and stated that the most probable cause of the Stardust fire was arson. This inaccuracy was allowed to continue unchallenged for many years as successive Governments refused to hold another inquiry. Defending a mistaken conclusion in the report made the horror the families involved suffered all the worse.

I commend the role played by the media, particularly in the context of various editions of RTE's "Prime Time" programme, which helped highlight the flaws of the Keane tribunal. It took pressure from the media, from those in the political arena and from the victims' committee to force the Government to reopen this inquiry. Victims' families continually campaigned for a new public inquiry, based on new evidence and witness statements that contradicted the Keane inquiry's conclusions. The committee also obtained three reports from fire experts, which also contradicted the findings in the Keane report. It took 26 years, from 15 February 1981 until 13 April 2007, to obtain an external examination to ascertain if there was a case to reopen the inquiry. Mr. John Gallagher was chosen to head that inquiry.

The families of the Stardust victims were informed that full costs arising from an examination into their claims for a public inquiry would not be paid by the State. This caused considerable anguish because the families reportedly believed that, without aid, they would not be able to match the resources of other parties involved in the examination and so put their case effectively. The inquiry was thrown into doubt when it was revealed that Mr. Gallagher had acted as a junior counsel for the Garda when the deaths were brought before the Coroner's Court in 1982. On 29 March 2008, Mr. Gallagher resigned from the commission. Solicitor for the families, Mr. Greg O'Neill, said his clients had lost all faith in the process of private assessment and that their submission, Nothing But the Truth, which was presented to Mr. Gallagher should be brought to a full public inquiry.

On 10 July 2008 the Government finally established an independent examination of the case for a renewed inquiry into the cause of the fire at the Stardust, Artane, headed by Mr. Paul Coffey, SC. Mr. Coffey's report was noted by Government and published on 23 January 2009. Once again, however, the victims' committee was treated poorly by the Government and was obliged to stage a protest at Government Buildings in order to obtain a copy of the Coffey report. I strongly welcome the recommendation in the Coffey report which acknowledges that the actual cause of the fire is unknown and that none of the persons present on the night in question could be held responsible.

I give my full support to the Stardust victims' committee's statement of 23 January and I wish to place on the record five points contained therein:

Mr. Coffey's findings and conclusions finally justify and vindicate the Stardust families campaign for the truth about the Stardust fire disaster to be publicly acknowledged and acted upon by the Government.

That the Stardust Victims and their families were abandoned by the State is graphically acknowledged by Mr. Coffey in his call for Government action to see to the unmet needs of the victims and their families twenty eight years after the disaster. It alone stands as an indictment of the Irish State.

The removal of the findings of arson opens a door that was closed to the families. The finding of arson caused considerable distress to the bereaved families and injured survivors and deterred them from pursuing remedies through the courts against the owners and operators of the premises and/or public bodies with statutory responsibilities.

Mr Coffey's findings and conclusions present an opportunity for the Irish State to remedy the injustice the families have suffered. The families call upon the Government to examine the issues outlined in this report with a view to establishing the likely cause of the fire. The families will cooperate with the Government and all political parties in the Dáil to see that Mr. Coffey's recommendations are fully implemented.

Today [23 January] is a significant day for the Stardust families as it marks the first official acknowledgement of the justice of their case after nearly three decades of gross injustice.

I welcome the recommendation from the Government to the effect that the State should provide medical and counselling treatment to the victims. It was another failing of the State at the time not to provide help or support to those families of the victims. All victims should have received these services when the original tribunal report was published.

I commend the work of the Stardust victims' committee, which is led, among others, by Ms Christine Keegan, Ms Antoinette Keegan and Ms Gertrude Barrett. Those involved with the committee deserve our respect and our praise. Without their drive, determination and commitment, the Dáil record would have remained incorrect. They have defended their loved ones with dignity, honour and passion. No one could have done more. I salute their achievement.

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