A family bereaved by the Stardust disaster yesterday pledged to oppose the opening of a new bar on the site of the nightclub and to object to further planning applications.
Yesterday, on the 25th anniversary of the fire which claimed 48 lives, a planning application under the name of Patrick Butterly and Sons Limited, the owners of the Stardust nightclub, appeared in national newspapers. The application seeks permission for alternations to a car park on the eastern side of Butterly Business Park, close to the site on which the Stardust once stood.
Tonight, a new bar called the Silver Swan is expected to open on the Stardust site but families and friends of the Stardust victims have said they will protest outside the building.
Last night, Antoinette Keegan, a spokeswoman for the Stardust Victims Committee, expressed both her surprise and disappointment on hearing that planning application by the Butterlys had appeared on the 25th anniversary of the tragedy.
She would be objecting to the proposal because it is near what is now a "graveyard" to 48 people, and would support any proposed protest outside the new premises. "If this planning application goes to the courts, I am going to need public support so I am asking people to get behind us," she said.
Referring to RTÉ's two-part documentary on the tragedy, which concluded last night, Ms Keegan praised the station's realistic and sensitive portrayal.
Ms Keegan, whose family were the main subjects of the RTÉ drama Stardust, said the scenes of smoke enveloping the nightclub, fire rolling across the ceiling and mass hysteria towards the exit were extraordinarily realistic.
"It brought it all back to me, I felt trapped as I sat on a stool in our kitchen having flashbacks to that night. It was one flashback after another. I don't know how RTÉ made it so realistic. It was like being back in there," said Ms Keegan.
After the first programme on Sunday night, Ms Keegan - who survived the fire but lost her two sisters, Mary and Martina - received numerous calls from strangers offering their support. "There were men crying down the phone, asking us how did we live through it all," she said.
Tonight, a Prime Time interview with a leading specialist in the area of fire dynamics, material flammability and fire-safety design, will question the findings of the 1981 tribunal, which concluded that the cause of the fire was probably arson.
Families bereaved by the Stardust tragedy are now calling on the Government to launch a new investigation into the Stardust disaster. One of the families has called for the exhumation of the remains of their son so DNA testing can confirm his resting place and they can erect a tombstone.
Ms Keegan said she hoped the RTÉ series would encourage the Government, public and media to ask questions of the 1981 tribunal findings. The Irish Times was unable to contact Eamon Butterly last night.