Book queries cause of fire in club

The authors of a new book on the Stardust tragedy claim to have unearthed evidence casting doubt on the finding of a tribunal that arson was the probable cause of the fire.

Forty-eight people died in the blaze at the Stardust nightclub in north Dublin in the early hours of St Valentine's Day 1981.

Although the subsequent inquiry chaired by Mr Justice Keane found the club owners guilty of "reckless negligence" in keeping emergency exits locked, it also accepted as a probability that the fire was started deliberately. The owners, the Butterly family, later won £581,496 in a malicious damages claim.

But They Never Came Home, written by journalists Neil Fetherstonhaugh and Tony McCullough, claims that a confidential Garda report on the tragedy uncovered no evidence of arson, and that the investigating garda∅ did not believe the fire was started maliciously.

It also says that the Garda inquiry heard numerous claims from customers and staff indicating electrical and other problems at the complex in the weeks leading up to the tragedy.

There were repeated reports of unexplained smoke at the premises, and of "excessive heat" in the west alcove area, where the fire is believed to have started.

One woman told garda∅ that at a concert by two top British bands a month before the tragedy, she heard a crackling noise above her and saw sparks in the ceiling, "which she likened to the effect of sparks from bumper cars in an amusement centre".

The book also points to the puzzling evidence of a taxi driver who dropped a customer near the Stardust at 1.30 a.m. on the night of the fatal blaze and saw flames "the size of a house" in the roof.

The first sightings of the fire in the west alcove area were not until at least 1.40 a.m.

The tribunal condemned the club's managing director, Mr Eamonn Butterly, for locking emergency exits, "a recklessly dangerous practice which regularly endangered the lives of over 1,000 people".

However, the DPP, for whom the Garda file was prepared, decided there were insufficient grounds for prosecution.

The Butterly companies subsequently won their compensation claim after a two-day case in the Circuit Court.

Politicians including Mr Sean Haughey TD attended the publication in Dublin last night.

Mrs Christine Keegan, who lost two daughters in the fire, told those attending that the book highlighted the "flagrant abuse of planning and fire laws which allowed the conversion of a food processing plant into a night club".

It was a sad fact that almost 21 years on, recommendations of the tribunal report had still to be put into effect, she said.

They Never Came Home takes its title from a song about the tragedy by Christy Moore, who also contributed a preface.