More than 40 years after Stardust nightclub tragedy families welcome moment of truth

After more than four decades of battling the families of “the 48″ dared to hope on Tuesday “the beginning of the end” of their fight for the truth had come.

The “long-awaited” inquests into the deaths of their young loved ones — some of them children — at the Stardust nightclub in Artane Dublin in the early hours of February 14th, 1981, got under way amid scenes of raw emotion.

Over the next six months, Dublin coroner Myra Cullinane will preside over the largest inquest into one of the greatest disasters in the State’s history, in the historic Pillar Room, on the grounds of the Rotunda hospital. It started as the first “pen portraits” were read into the record.

Scheduled to be read in alphabetical order, those of Michael Barrett (17) — an “absolute pet of a person” and of “quiet”, “loyal” Carol Bissett (18) were read movingly by their mothers, Gertrude and Betty.

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As they gathered at the nearby Garden of Remembrance, carrying photographs of their loved ones beforehand, families expressed joy, relief and some apprehension about what lay ahead.

“It is poignant,” said Alison Crocker, who was 12 when her sister Jacqueline Crocker died in the inferno. “My mum, Lucy, is 90 now and couldn’t bring herself to come. She is just too heartbroken. I have a younger brother who couldn’t bring himself to be here. It’s really hard. We have had 42 years of abuse by the Irish State, but we hope this is the beginning of the end of fighting for justice for them.”

Maurice and Phyllis McHugh, who were in Manchester for a wedding when their only child, Caroline (17) died, said the day was “very, very important to us ... We’re in disbelief it is happening, we’ve been knocked back so many times”.

Mr McHugh expects to read his and his wife’s portrait of Caroline on May 16th.

It would “bring it all back to us again, of that morning, going to the morgue” but it was important he added. The families had “all had the same kinds of problems with our grief over the past 40 years ... not being able to express it”.

The inquests, ordered by the then attorney general Séamus Woulfe in 2019, come after the 1982 tribunal of inquiry chaired by Mr Justice Ronan Keane; a compensation tribunal established in 1985, at which families had to waive their right to pursue any further legal action; two Oireachtas-appointed reports, protests, vigils and countless political promises.

No accountability

No one and nobody has been held accountable for the blaze and no one has ever apologised to the families, said Antoinette Keegan who survived the fire but lost her sisters Mary (19) and Martina (16).

“The insults we took over the years, from ministers, from governments. But we said, ‘we’re not going to stop’. And we are here now and we are the voices for our loved ones, and for our family members who died since.

“Today, for the first time in 42 years we are being heard. Our loved ones are being recognised as real people, in an official setting, recognised as loved daughters, brothers, sons and sisters.

“I feel like a weight is off my shoulders. The inquests are starting. This is our Hillsborough. This is happening at long last and we’re here.”