Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)

Ba mhaith liom, fiú anois 28 bliain tar éis an eachtra uafásach a tharla, comhbhrón a dhéanamh arís leis na clanna a gortaíodh nó a chaill mac nó iníon san uafás sin.

This month 28 years ago Ireland witnessed the worst fire disaster in the history of the State. The inferno in the Stardust disco cost the lives of 48 young people. It caused horrific injuries to many others and devastated the working class communities affected. While 48 lost their lives as a direct consequence of the fire, the pain and suffering of those families affected led to poor health and mental anguish. This was compounded by the Government and legal inaction in the following years.

That family members of the victims of the Stardust fire had to stage a three-day sit-in outside Government Buildings last month to force the Government to publish the latest report on the fire has been typical of their treatment. The survivors and families of victims were forced to fight hard for justice for their loved ones. From the fight for compensation to the fight for a commemorative park, they have had to battle every step of the way. I applaud each and every one of those affected by the Stardust disaster.

The findings of the original 1982 tribunal of inquiry into the Stardust fire were contradictory. The tribunal of inquiry concluded that there was no evidence of an accidental origin to the fire and equally no evidence that the fire had been started deliberately. However, it also concluded that the probable cause of the fire was arson. This unsubstantiated and inconsistent finding which was always contested by the families has been decisively dismissed by the independent examination commissioned by the Government and published last month.

It was the unsound conclusion of probable arson which paved the way for the owners of the Stardust, the Butterly family, to successfully sue the taxpayer for £600,000 for malicious damage. The profit-hungry pub owners and management were responsible for an extremely dangerous policy of locking and chaining the emergency exits and placed steel plates over numerous windows, all of which grossly impeded emergency exit. They continued this policy despite receiving notices from Dublin Corporation in advance of the fire demanding that these practices cease.

The victims of the fire were predominantly working class and many were in a financially vulnerable position. It was several years after the payout to the Butterly family that they secured compensation. I wonder whether the Butterly family will be asked or compelled to repay the £600,000 award it received.

To date, no one has been held liable or accountable for the devastating loss of life in the Stardust fire. One cannot help but suspect that if the tragedy had occurred in a nightclub in a more affluent area, the Government response to the victims and the legal repercussions for recklessly negligent owners and management would have been different.

Mr. Coffey's categorical finding that there is no evidence of arson finally opens the door to legal cases by the families. Mr. Coffey also recommended that a structure be put in place to ensure the outstanding needs for counselling and medical treatment are met. That such a basic necessity needs to be spelled out 28 years on from the fire is an indictment of this and previous Governments and their unforgivable abandonment of the victims and their families.

In 2001 a fire broke out in a public house in the Netherlands killing 14 people and injuring 300 others. The Dutch authorities put all questions of legal liability to the side and instantly made €18 million available for social and psychological care for the victims. As a state and society, we should be judged on how we meet the needs of our most vulnerable citizens. The shameful treatment of all those devastated by the Stardust disaster is evidence that we still have a very long way to go.

Comhbhrón ó chroí dóibh siúd a gortaíodh agus dóibh siúd a chaill mac nó iníon sa tragóid uafásach seo. Tá súil agam go mbeidh suaimhneas síoraí acu siúd atá imithe romhainn a fuair bás ar an oíche ghránna sin.

See this speech in context