Michael Farrell (26), Coolock - ‘He loved pay-day. He made sure our Mam always got her wages’

The inquests into the deaths of the 48 young people who died in the Stardust fire in Artane, Dublin in 1981 feature pen portraits of each of the deceased by, read by bereaved family members. Find all of the portraits and more coverage here.

I was the older sister of Michael, and his two brothers Willie and Pat.

Even though Michael was almost five years younger than me, we became the best of friends. He would follow me around the house ... like my shadow.

Every Saturday at home, my job was to clean the house before I went anywhere. I did not like that, but Michael would stay in and help me – for a price! His fee was six pence. Of course, he put music on and we would clean the house while dancing around to the Bee Gees – which made the cleaning fun.

‘I’m alone pretty much all the time. The older I become, the less hopeful I am this will change’

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Michael started his first job at the age of 14 as a helper on the trucks in Allied Bottlers, which he loved. He then moved on to driving the trucks, which he loved even more. Michael loved pay-day. He made sure our Mam always got what he referred to as her “wages” from it.

With the rest, he would get what he needed – like new jacket, shirt and trousers, as he was very well dressed. He might get a haircut and, of course, would sometimes get a bottle of fragrance like Old Spice.

Michael was going out with Thelma Fraser who was also killed in the Stardust fire. He met Thelma when he was 21, in her aunt’s house.

Dancing competition

All my children loved Michael and he loved them. Michael and Thelma would often take the kids out and I used to call out after them, “Don’t bring them to the pub!” But they would anyway. Sometimes they would go up to Dublin Airport for a day out to look at the planes or would go to the countryside.

On the night of the Stardust, our brother Pat was in the dancing competition. I was meant to go but I couldn’t get a babysitter.

My brother Pat was the one who informed Mam that there was a fire in the Stardust. Pat stayed around the Stardust until about 6 in the morning searching for Michael. Myself and Pat searched everywhere we thought Michael could be: at the houses of family, friends and Thelma.

We then went to all the hospitals and still nothing. We searched for three days and that’s when we went back into the mortuary ... I was brought into a room and ... showed a watch which I knew straight away belonged to Michael.

Life was never the same after this. This destroyed my Mam and Dad and all my family, knowing their son, brother and uncle was never coming home ... so much anger, pain, heartache ... We will never get over this.

He would talk to us about how much he loved Thelma. He told us, “She’s my soul mate” and that he was going to marry her. They died before he could have asked her.