The Cabinet’s approval of a €24 million redress package for the Stardust victims has been heralded as a “new dawn” by a representative of the families of the 48 young people who lost their lives in the 1981 nightclub fire.
Solicitor Darragh Mackin led the negotiations with the Government on behalf of the families and said the ex gratia redress package was “the crystallisation of the intense and relentless engagement” and “reflective of [an] unprecedented miscarriage of justice”.
He stressed it was “impossible to put a value on the loss these families have sustained” but said the payments would go “a considerable way to providing support to these families for all their relentless efforts and life investment, which they so courageously devoted over the last four decades.”
He expressed the view that the payments would be a “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.”
The jury at the inquests into the fire returned verdicts in April of unlawful killing in respect of all 48 of the victims.
Antoinette Keegan, who lost her two sisters Mary (19) and Martina (16) in the blaze, was involved in finalising the details of the package. She told The Irish Times the breakdown of the package would remain confidential but said people were “satisfied” by the outcome.
“Stardust has never been a happy word for us and it never will be so I can’t say I am happy with what has happened now but I am satisfied,” she said.
She expressed thanks to Taoiseach Simon Harris for his role in the discussions and said he had honoured all the commitments made to the families of the victims.
She stressed that the fight for justice which lasted for more than 40 years “has never been about money Money has never ever crossed our minds and it has always been about seeking justice.”
She said the families were reaching a point where they could draw a line under what had happened over the decades since the fire.
“Martina should be having a big celebration for her 60th birthday soon but we missed all of the Christmases and the birthdays and other celebrations over so many years. We were always such a happy family and that all crashed in 1981 and life has never been the same [but] I know my two sisters are happy now because of the verdict of unlawful killing. That’s all we ever wanted, we only wanted the truth.”
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