Michael Griffiths (18), Kilmore – ‘With his first pay cheque, he took us all to the cinema’

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.

Michael was the eldest of five siblings ... a very happy outgoing person with a great love for family.

He was someone you could rely on and look up to. He loved family occasions like birthdays, and when younger would always be first to drag us out of bed on Christmas morning to get the day started.

We never had to ask If Michael was home because you could hear him either laughing or playing music, singing at the top of his voice with Elvis being one of his favourites.

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He had a great work ethic and a generous nature. I can remember when he was about sixteen on the occasion of receiving his first pay cheque, instead of going out and spending it on himself, he took us all to the cinema.

Michael had ... an endless number of friends, both male and female, consisting of school pals, neighbours and work colleagues. They would meet like any teenagers of the day to talk, play music, play sport, plan nights out and look forward.

[ Stardust: How the Northern Ireland inquest model provides template for families seeking justice ]

My last memory of Michael was after just celebrating our father’s 43rd birthday. Michael went upstairs and came back down a little while later full of life, ready for a night out in the Stardust. He said goodbye and walked out the door.

The next thing I remember is being woken up in the early hours of the morning to the sound of the front door being banged and my sister Jackie, who was also in the Stardust, her face blackened by smoke, screaming that there had been a fire ... and she couldn’t find Michael.

My father and mother ... jumped into the car with my sister and drove to the Stardust. They said what they found was utter carnage, but they were kept away by the fire service.

They couldn’t find Michael and were told to check ... hospitals. After spending the day driving around all the hospitals ... they were told to check the city morgue. They had to identify him by a ring he was wearing.

They then had to come home and break the news to us. By this time, friends and family had gathered in the house waiting and when my father and mother told us the bad news there was total devastation.

After the funeral, family life was never the same. It became for us a time of firsts. The first of our family to die. The first time I saw my mother truly grief-stricken. The first time I saw my father cry. Michael’s first birthday since his death. First Christmas without him. The first family photographs without him. The first anniversary of Michael’s death.

We don’t know exactly what Michael’s future held but we will never know his wife, or his children. Our families will never know their nieces, nephews or cousins and my father and mother will never know their grandchildren. After another inquest, let’s hope the engraving on his headstone can truly mean, rest in peace.