Stardust families to receive €24 million redress payments
Survivors and family last April walked from Dublin Coroner's Court to the Garden of Remembrance in Dublin after a verdict of unlawful killing had been returned by the jury in the Stardust fire inquests for all 48 people who died in the Dublin nightclub disaster in the early hours of Valentine's Day in 1981, the worst fire disaster in the history of the Irish state.
A €24 million redress scheme for the families of those affected by the Stardust fire has been approved by Government.
48 people were killed when the blaze ripped through the Dublin nightclub in 1981.
After a more than 40-year campaign for justice, an inquest in April found that the 48 victims had been unlawfully killed.
A previous finding in 1982 said that the fire had been started deliberately, a theory the families never accepted.
That ruling was dismissed in 2009, leading to the latest inquests for the victims, who were aged from 16 to 27 and mostly came from the surrounding north Dublin area.
A majority decision from the jury found the blaze, which broke out in the early hours of Valentine’s Day 1981, was instead caused by an electrical fault in the hot press of the bar.
Days after the decision, Taoiseach Simon Harris apologised to the victims, survivors and families of the tragedy, saying the State had failed them.
A special cabinet meeting was scheduled for this afternoon to sign off on the ex-gratia payment, which had been agreed with campaigners through a series of meetings.
The Taoiseach, along with Tanaiste Micheal Martin, Green Party leader Roderic O’Gorman and Justice Minister Helen McEntee, welcomed the conclusion of the negotiations with Stardust campaigners.
Mr Harris said that the Stardust families had been treated “so badly for so long”.
He said the Government had cooperated with them on the State apology and redress scheme, and that there was a need for recognition through redress of “the pain and hurt families had experienced”.
Mr Harris said:
“When I met the Stardust families for the first time, they said to me ‘before you deliver the State apology, please read the pen portraits, know and understand our loss, understand our pain insofar as humanely possible’.
He added: “That’s what I set about doing and that’s why when I issued the State apology, I was very determined to use the words of the families in of how they described their loved ones.
He said there would be further engagement with the families’ representatives on other matters.
“Today for me is about recognition for the Stardust families, it’s about recognising the pain and the hurt,” he said.
“I’d like to think that by working together since that verdict of unlawful killing, we have made real progress in publicly recognising the pain and the hurt that the Stardust families felt, not just through the fire and the loss of the loved ones, but how that pain was further compounded then by how the state acted and didn’t act towards them.” The Government said the redress package is the culmination of a series of steps it has taken to recognise the State failure to provide truth and justice over more than 40 years to the families.
If the overall figure is apportioned equally by the 48 people who were killed in the fire, each family may receive a redress payment of €500,000 for the death of their loved one.
Speaking after the meeting, Darragh Mackin, partner at Phoenix Law, who led the negotiations with the Government on behalf of the families, said: “Today’s development is the crystallisation of the intense and relentless engagement with the Government and Sara Moorehead SC over the last number of months.
“The unprecedented sum paid to the families is reflective of the unprecedented miscarriage of justice bestowed on these families.
“These payments are the gateway to a new dawn for the families of these victims.
“A new dawn whereby the truth is known, and where they can now each return to a life free from injustice and litigation.
“A new dawn whereby their families will be compensated with the greatest prize of all: the return of their families and friends who, for four decades, have been absent due to their unrivalled devotion to justice.
“In line with this week, like our Northside Olympic hero Kellie Harrington, these families leave the stage as champions.
“Testament must be paid to (Simon Harris), the Minister for Justice (Helen McEntee) and Ms Moorehead, whose commitment and dedication to this process has been unrivalled.
“In line with the Taoiseach’s words in the apology, the State no longer works against these families but works with them. In line with their commitment, they have taken steps to ensure these families are brought back in from the cold.”
App?
