Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I wish to express my sympathy and solidarity with the families and survivors. I commend their resilience. The Minister said the fire was imprinted in the memory of the Irish people.

As somebody who was born seven years later, I suppose one learns about it afterwards. If there was anything in addition to the fire that imprinted itself on people's minds, and as one learns about it after the fact, it was the chains on the fire escapes, which were one of the most appalling things about it, but also the fact that the campaign to find justice and truth has been so long, arduous and, unfortunately, without success. I know the Stardust Relatives and Victims Committee is deeply disappointed with the report which states that a new commission of inquiry into the tragedy is unwarranted. I fundamentally disagree with that. It is my view and, I believe, the view of many Deputies that the McCartan report was clearly deficient. If the Government receives a report that is deficient, it should not accept it. Clearly, there were significant flaws in how the work was carried out in that it did not engage with expert evidence, fire experts, medical experts and building experts were not called on; and Dublin City Council was not called on. It is my understanding that this is despite a prior commitment that all those people would be called on. There were others, including Tony McCullough, who were not called on so there are clearly very significant flaws with the report that has been received. I do not think the report in any way allows us to simply draw a line under this and say it is not possible to do anymore and that it will not be possible to find out the truth. Clearly, there is more that could be done. There is more evidence, there are people who could engaged with and there are experts who deserve to be heard and should be heard to find out the full truth.

It has been 36 years since those young people went out on a St. Valentine's night and never came home. No family should ever experience such tragedy but in its eventuality, the very least it deserves is transparency and to be afforded due process. I believe there is much more that can be done to achieve that. If this happened to any of our loved ones, I do not believe we would leave any stone unturned in our pursuit of justice and the truth. We have a responsibility to ensure that this happens and that the Oireachtas lends its full weight to finding out the truth. The McCartan report is clearly deficient and that a full public inquiry is the only way to continue to pursue this.

See this speech in context