Families affected by the 1981 Stardust tragedy outside Leinster House in January
Earlier this year.
The Government appointed retired Judge Pat MacCartan to examine evidence uncovered by relatives of the Stardust tragedy, in which 48 people died in a fire at a nightclub in Artane, Dublin, on Valentine’s night in 1981.
The purpose of his assessment was to decipher whether a commission of investigation should be established into the fire or not…
Further to this…
RTE reports:
An assessment into the Stardust tragedy has found that no new inquiry is warranted into the fire that claimed the lives of 48 people in Dublin 36 years ago.
It found that no new or updated evidence was uncovered by families of the fire victims.
“…Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan is to publish the report on the tragedy by Judge McCartan in its entirety this afternoon.
Top from left: Maurice Frazer who lost his sister Thelma (20), Antoinette with her mother Christine Keegan with a picture of Martina and Mary who died in the Stardust, Eugene Kelly who lost his brother Robert Kelly (17) , Patricia Kennedy who lost her daughter Mary (Maire) (17) , Louise and her mother Bridget who lost William (22), Marcela (16) and George (18).
Evidence found by Stardust relatives to be assessed (RTE)
Previously: Not For Turning
Rollingnews
This case always makes me so sad and mad.
Many, many moons ago I went out with a lass whose older brother was there on the night. Every night he’d wake up screaming, drenched in sweat. The one time I witnessed it was horrifying. He was reliving it. I’ll never forget the terror in his eyes. He drank to forget but was consumed by it and his PTSD. 37 when he died. That fire destroyed hundreds of lives. Tragedy is a word that just doesn’t convey the scale of it. I feel so sorry for those folks. Do you know what I reckon? No answer will ease their pain.
That really brings it home – stopped me in my tracks.
Used to work for a promoter who hired the Stardust for the occasional rock gig.
Walking round it between sound check and gig one evening, we were saying how safe it seemed compared to what we were used to. Unthinkable.
The same Judge Mc Cartan involved in trial Gridinski that killed Lucia o Farrell’s son Shane? Where perjury was committed ?
This tragedy still haunts me at public events, as does Hillsborough. I think I’ve read too much about event tragedies. At the 25th anniversary of Stardust, a really good documentary was aired with damning new evidence against the Butterlys. I mentioned it at work in the canteen over breakfast and some Cork lad went completely ape saying “it’s over, get over it, feckin’ Dubs and their feckin’ Stardust”. He was obviously hungover to bits. The families of the victims don’t in the slightest annoy people with their campaign – they are quite subdued and respectful. Hence they deserve these unanswered liability questions to be addressed. My older sister was out that night and nobody had a clue where she was when the news of the fire broke. No mobile phones, remember.
Two of my cousins were in the Stardust that night. One emigrated to England about six months later. He wasn’t physically injured but became more and more withdrawn over the years, gradually losing contact with the family and died alone in London around 1998. The other lad spent a couple of weeks in hospital, some burns, visible scars. He kept having occasional nightmares and flashbacks about being trampled on. His descriptions of the rushing and increasing panic of that night are extremely vivid and awful to hear. He was 18 in 1981, 54 now but looks way older. He hasn’t gotten involved with the survivors groups but seems to be going through life looking for a type of closure that sadly looks elusive.