Stardust evidence to be looked at

Dáil Report: Tuesday night's RTÉ Prime Time programme on the Stardust tragedy is to be studied by the Department of Justice, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has said.

"Further evidence was provided by the relatives more recently, and the Minister gave a full commitment that this would be dealt with. That is still outstanding and must be dealt with. I understand RTÉ will helpfully provide the programme details and data to the department, which must also be fully examined." Mr Ahern said the RTÉ programmes were good examples of public service broadcasting. He repeated that he would meet the relatives and he noted that they intended to contact him at the end of the week.

"Whatever issues arise from that meeting, including issues relating to technology and DNA, I will be happy to examine them."

Mr Ahern was replying to Labour leader Pat Rabbitte, who also praised the RTÉ programmes "as an example of the best in public service broadcasting".

Just because the programmes were finished, they should not pass over the issue again as had happened so many times in the past, he added. Mr Rabbitte repeated his suggestion that the most effective way of dealing with legitimate questions raised by the families would be to borrow the practice followed in the Dean Lyons case. A senior counsel might be appointed by the Minister to review the Garda files and the papers available to the tribunal, to assess any new evidence, as well as the significance of the Prime Time programme.

He said that two new experts had been introduced in the Prime Time programme. "We did not know there was a difference of expert opinion at the tribunal.

"I do not know what weight colleagues in the House give to the programme, but there was sufficient concern raised by two independent experts with no axe to grind to suggest the relatives have a fair claim to have some procedure open to them whereby they can seek answers to questions that have remained unanswered to date."

Mr Ahern said it was not a question of forgetting about the matters involved.

The Minister for Justice and his predecessor had a series of meetings over a number of years.

"Developments have not stopped. They may have stopped in the public domain, but not with regard to the relatives of the Stardust committee. They have been through a long series of meetings."

Mr Ahern said he could not make a conclusion as to whether issues of design, location of the fire, or where it might have started, constituted new evidence.

"I will not agree or disagree with that as I just do not know. However, it is valuable information to be examined by those who can make an assessment in that regard.

"I can make sure that happens and we will then see where we go from there."