Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for the reply. Nobody, certainly not me, wants an unseemly political row over what is an intensely traumatic and sensitive issue. The families, however, feel the funding has not been made available to their satisfaction. There is the potential for 47 families not to be involved in the inquest if things continue as they currently stand. While I understand the Minister of State, Deputy James Browne, is not the decision maker in this regard, I urge him to ensure that he speaks to the Minister of State, Deputy Hildegarde Naughton, and ensure this inquest can continue and that we will not have any cloud hanging over it. We all want an inquest to begin and the truth to be found in good faith on all sides. What we do not want is to have a row over money, because money really is irrelevant when you consider the list of people who should still be alive today. All of them were young enough to be alive today. I ask the Minister of State, Deputy James Browne, to make that case and for this to be resolved.

It is the last thing any of the families want to be talking about and I am sure it is the last thing the Minister of State and the officials in the Department want to be talking about in terms of the Stardust fire inquest. They do not want it said that before the inquest began there was a row over money which was not forthcoming from the Department.

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