Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I offer my deepest sympathies to the families here today for the loss of their children, sisters, brothers and relations on 14 February 1981 - a night of love. I was 11 years old then. I am now a father of four children, all of whom are the ages of those who died in the Stardust fire. I am now a grandfather. It has taken 43 years for the Government to say sorry. It has taken 43 years for all these families who have fought for justice for their loved ones to see this day. As a parent, I cannot comprehend what any one of these people has gone through. No apology from me or anyone in this Chamber will make up for the years of loss, but saying "I got it wrong; I'm sorry" will give people peace of mind so they can move on and say they have vindicated their families. They now know what happened. This is a failure on the part of a lot of people throughout all these years.

The saddest thing about this is that it continues. The families here today fought for their loved ones and waited for the Government to say sorry. It is now in the history books as a milestone for this country that these families fought to ensure they got the proper apology. People are dying in hospitals in this country on a daily basis but nobody will stand up and say sorry. I am sorry to have to mention today that a young girl named Jessica Sheedy - I have permission to mention her name - died after she went into University Hospital Limerick for a minor operation over three years ago. The inquest into her death is still ongoing, even though all the information has been given three or four times over, because somebody will not stand up and say "I'm sorry". How many more inquests are going on around this country because people will not stand up and say "we got it wrong; we're sorry"? Instead of fixing this aspect of the system to protect children and families as we go forward, we tie it up in litigation and legal battles and we protect and deflect blame from the people who are responsible.

If we learn anything from today - from all these families - it should be that it is time to stop this. We must not let another 43 years go by before a government has to say sorry to somebody else. I wish to put it on the record today that a government will end up saying sorry to the people in UHL and other hospitals for introducing a centre of excellence with a rising population, for cancelling elective surgeries in other hospitals and for putting people in the area at risk. People have died trying to get to the hospital. They did not even get there. A government will eventually have to apologise for that but members of this Government will have reached retirement age and will leave it to somebody else. Fix it now, say sorry now, make people accountable now, fix the mistakes to protect the children and families of the future and accept the liability that is there. Let us learn from it. Again, I thank and applaud the families for continuing the fight because now they might put down a marker for the things that are going on in inquests today. We will see in the history books that a government will end up saying sorry for that too.

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