DENIS O'SHAUGHNESSY,
Madam, - Fran Veale's description of the mortality rate in the 1981 Stardust fire as the worst in the history of the State is incorrect. By extraordinary coincidence, exactly the same number of people (48) died in the dreadful cinema fire in Dromcollogher, Co Limerick, on September 5th, 1926. The fire started when a fallen candle ignited the film reel and quickly spread through the wooden extension, built over a grain barn, and which acted as a cinema.
Many people died in the rush to get out through the narrow opening, and some families from the area were practically wiped out in the tragedy. Fifty-three children were left dependent. An international relief fund realised £12,000, the famous American entertainer Bill Rogers organising a show in La Scala Theatre in Dublin to raise funds.
The Cork Examiner stated that "such a tragedy must never be allowed happen again" and the Limerick Leader described the village after the fire as a "city of the dead". - Yours, etc.,
DENIS O'SHAUGHNESSY,
Janemount Park,
Corbally,
Limerick.