Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I note the momentous occasion yesterday in the Pillar Room of the Rotunda Hospital when the families of the Stardust victims heard that after a four-decade long campaign, the new inquest into what happened to their loved ones that night when the fire took place in the Stardust Ballroom will finally begin. I pay tribute to all the families. They have never given up hope of finding answers to what happened. The original inquests were rushed. They only gave the medical reasons why their loved ones died. They did not give any detail about the circumstances of what led up to the fire or why the casualty figures were so high when 48 young people with an average age of 19 lost their lives on that tragic night.

After that, we had the Keane inquiry, which effectively blamed the community for what happened to it. Now, after that long campaign, the families have finally had a new inquest granted to them. I wish them well. I pay tribute in particular to Gertrude Barrett and Mrs. Bisset, who were the first to read the pen portraits of what happened to their loved ones, which was no easy task. The pen portraits are a critical part of this inquest and should be borne in mind when we reform the inquest process. They allow relatives to bring the personalities of their loved ones into the inquest court and talk about what their interests, dreams and aspirations were and what they meant to their families. They were not just numbers; they were real people who had hopes and dreams. It was very moving yesterday to hear both Gertrude Barrett talk about her son Michael and Mrs Bisset talk about her daughter Carol, and how all their dreams and hopes were seized from them.

I wish the families all the best. It will be a tough six months for them, particularly the next two weeks when the pen portraits will be read into the Coroner's Court record. It will be an emotional roller-coaster. They will need all the support of the public and each other. I pay tribute to them because it has been a very long campaign. They never gave up hope and hopefully they will now finally get answers to all the questions they have had for the last four decades.