Stardust fire inquest delayed until April 2023

An inquest into the 1981 Stardust fire tragedy will not begin before April 2023, a pre-inquest hearing was told on Wednesday.

Dublin District Senior Coroner Dr Myra Cullinane said she had been informed the jury assembly process would take between 19 and 20 weeks.

Forty-eight people died in a fire at the nightclub in Artane on February 14th, 1981, the worst fire disaster in the Republic’s history.

Dr Cullinane said a final list of 312 witnesses to appear before the inquest had been identified and that a “very careful selection process” had been conducted that included 1,400 statements. She said witness canvassing had begun in early 2021 and was “an extensive process”. The senior coroner said it was not possible to “hear every witness” and that there must be a structure to the hearing and limit placed on witnesses to be heard, “while ensuring that all substantive issues are going to be addressed by those witnesses that are called”.

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She expressed concern that the addition of any “significant number of witnesses at this point” had the potential to “significantly delay” the hearing, adding “that of course is not what any of us want at this stage”. Dr Cullinane said there may be circumstances in which additional witnesses could be heard and this would be dealt with in parallel with proceedings “rather than delaying the commencement”.

Dr Cullinane said she had been informed by the county registrar that the estimated time required to conclude the jury assembly process “will be between 19 and 20 weeks”. She said as a result, the likely commencement date of the inquest “will be no earlier than April 2023″.

‘Jury details’

She said a way of expediting matters would be to commence hearing pen portraits while the “jury assembly process is in train”. Pen portraits are used during inquests to help give the coroner and jury details of the person, their family, interests and hobbies.

However, Michael O’Higgins SC, who is representing the majority of victims’ families said while time would be saved, they were opposed to such a suggestion. Consequently, it was decided that pen portraits will be provided before the jury.

Speaking after the pre-inquest hearing, Antoinette Keegan, whose sisters Mary (19) and Martina (16) died in the fire, said families of the victims would be approaching Minister for Justice Helen McEntee to look for additional resources to try and bring forward the commencement date to February.

“It was a little bit disappointing but still at the same time, it was positive,” she said. “It’s the first time that we’ve actually heard that the inquest is actually going to start. We’ve been left in limbo for so long, not knowing when it was going to happen and when it was going to start.”

Ms Keegan added that it was “very important” that pen portraits would be read out in front of a jury.

“It’s important for everyone to understand they were real people, they were our loved ones and they had got a voice and their voice was taken from them, their life was taken from them,” she said.

“It’s important that we get that point across to the jury and the public, the hurt and pain that we were left with.”

‘Not surprised’

Gertrude Barrett, whose son Michael died in the fire, said she was “not surprised” that the inquest was not due to begin until next April.

“I’ve been dealing with all these governments — this is not new,” she said.

“There is always something … what more would you expect? There’s always something … no one is in a hurry. Five months to find a jury … We don’t seem to count, but then again we never did count, did we?”

A further pre-inquest hearing relating to the list of witnesses to appear at the inquest is due to take place on December 15th.

Broadcaster Charlie Bird was among those who joined friends and family of the deceased to show support outside the hearing at the Rotunda on Parnell Square.