Madam, - People all over the country were moved to tears by the fine RTÉ programmes on the Stardust fire and its aftermath - moved first to tears of sadness and compassion, but also, I am sure, tears of rage. The failure of the State to vindicate the rights of the tortured and bereaved families is a just cause for anger. Many will feel that if the victims been the daughters and sons of people of property the response of the political powers might have been a great deal more solicitous, sympathetic, effective and quick.
It is surely indicative of a deep gulf of understanding that the main sentiments emanating from political representatives of North Dublin this week were of shock, disappointment and bewilderment, not at the failure of the establishment to meet its obligations to the Stardust families, but at the Taoiseach's decision to prefer one TD to another as a junior minister.
If politicians wonder why they are held in such contempt, and why voter participation is in decline, they need look no further than their own contemptible priorities. - Yours, etc,
STEVE MacDONOGH, Lispole, Co Kerry.
Madam, - Antoinette Keegan of the Stardust Victims Committee has asked for public support in her 25-year quest for justice for the survivors and the bereaved of the Stardust tragedy (The Irish Times, February 14th). It is a terrible indictment of Irish society that we have abandoned these heroic people in their struggle against legal and political structures that have thwarted them at every turn. RTÉ should be applauded for screening the reconstruction of the tragedy which highlighted the searing suffering undergone by the Stardust families.
It is time that we the public and media rallied round the Stardust Victims Committee to resist the desecration of this hallowed site by commercial interests. - Yours, etc,
BRENDAN BUTLER, Pennock Hill, Swords, Co Dublin.