Rebecca Moynihan (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the families here this evening. I wish to pay tribute to Senator Boylan, who I have watched over the years, as a former MEP and now as a Senator, working with the Stardust families and advocating for them on both national and European levels. Her commitment to this cause cannot be questioned.

It goes without saying that the fact the families have been left without answers and forced to continue to fight for justice for this length of time is one of the great shames in our country. While the Government is not opposing this Bill, I ask that it takes a serious look at it and tries to enact it before it is too late. As Senator Ó Donnghaile said, there is a time constraint with this. This affects not just the Stardust victims and the inquest into that, but it affects a wider group of people as well as the inquest system. It is important the Bill is in place for a group of people who have had to fight for truth and justice for 41 years.

As Senator Boylan said, this is a case very similar to Hillsborough, in that people were blamed for what befell them at that Valentine’s disco. I watched the Hillsborough inquest and saw the relief on the families' faces when they were finally able to point to what happened and when the truth came out.

This Bill is simple, although the Fianna Fáil speaker, Senator Gallagher, spoke about a number of things that it could impact and affect. It is an amendment to the Coroners Act, which is an existing Act. If that is the case, I hope the Government will look at that and in a timely manner bring forward an alternative.

There are two issues that remain outstanding. The first is the selection of jury and the second is the remuneration of that jury. It is simply wrong when it comes to an inquest of this size, scale and potential length that juries would not be selected as they would be in criminal cases and would not be remunerated. It is only right that people have income protection for the effort and time. It cannot happen if the possibility remains that this inquest, in theory, can happen without a jury. For these reasons, we support the provisions in the Bill that aim to compensate jurors, which is very important, as well as in respect of jury selection. If that is not provided for, the potential pool of jurors may be reduced even further and that is no way to run an inquest such as this given its size, scale and length and the fact it is 41 years after justice should have been done. The victims, survivors, families and local community in Artane deserve just that.

The previous Attorney General who is now Supreme Court judge approved the call for this inquest while noting previously that there has been an insufficient inquiry into how the deaths occurred. I have no doubt the coroner will make every attempt to ensure that this does not happen again, but that has to be supported by the State and in terms of how the inquest is designed.

Last year we had the families left ineligible for legal aid. To be fair, that has been addressed, but it never should have happened. Now we have the issue relating to jury selection and compensation. It is unacceptable that the families of the Stardust fire victims seem to come against barrier after barrier. The stress of all of these oversights and delays adds up. It adds insult to injury and it has added up over the past 41 years.

Essentially, this comes down to establishing the truth. Those affected by the Stardust tragedy have the right to the truth and the respect that they deserve in finding out the truth about what happened that Valentine’s night. They have consistently not been treated with respect. That is continuing to this day by way of those oversights in relation to legal aid and jury selection.

We fully support this Bill. There is no comfort without justice and the truth. The ball is in the Government’s court to bring forward an amendment to the Coroners Act to allow this to be dealt with in a timely manner and to finally, after 41 years, give the families the justice they deserve.