Below is the full text of a statement issued by the Government today, Friday, January 23rd, 2009, following the publication of an independent review of the case submitted by families of those who died in the Stardust fire of 1981 calling for a new inquiry:
The Government has today published the report of the independent examination by Mr. Paul Coffey SC of the case submitted by the Stardust Victims Committee for a renewed inquiry into the cause of the Stardust disaster.
Mr. Coffey notes that the Committee sought a new inquiry for the limited purpose of establishing the cause of the fire and he concludes that the committee have not identified any new nor any evidence capable of establishing the cause of the fire. He states that while it could be argued that a further inquiry would at least establish whether the fire began in the West Alcove or in the roof space it seems to him that at a remove of nearly three decades from the date of the fire and in the absence of any identified evidence which can establish the cause of the fire wheresoever it arose, the public interest would not be served in establishing a further inquiry solely for that purpose.
He says that in the absence of any identified evidence capable of establishing the cause of the fire, such an inquiry can only at best produce a hypothetical finding neither capable of proof or disproof and therefore of no obvious or any forensic value.
Mr. Coffey recommends that the Government should consider whether it could correct the public record by placing on the record of the Dáil and Seanad an acknowledgement of the Tribunal’s findings that there is no evidence that the fire was started deliberately and that the cause of the fire is unknown.
The Government accepts the view of Mr Coffey that to establish a new tribunal to investigate the cause of the fire in the absence of any identified evidence which could establish the case of the fire would not be in the public interest and any such further inquiry would only at best produce a hypothetical finding of no forensic value.
The Government acknowledges that the “Report of the Tribunal of Inquiry on the Fire at the Stardust Artane, Dublin on the 14th February 1981” at paragraph 6.167 states as follows “The cause of fire is not known and may never be known. There is no evidence of an accidental origin: and equally no evidence that he fire was started deliberately”.
The Government wishes to acknowledge that as a matter of fact the actual cause of the catastrophic fire at the Stardust on the 14th of February 1981 is unknown. None of the victims of the Stardust disaster or the persons present at the Stardust on the night of the fire can be held responsible for the fire.
The Government also accepts the ‘Discretionary Recommendation’ made by the Mr. Coffey that a committee be established to monitor the progress of the victims and to ensure that any outstanding counselling and medical treatment where necessary are afforded to the survivors and the bereaved.
The Government further wishes to express its continuing and deep sympathy with the survivors and bereaved at the terrible loss of life and injury that occurred in the Stardust fire on that tragic night in February, 1981.