Josephine Glen (16), Coolock – ‘A happy, kind, loving and sociable person’

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 read by bereaved family members. Find all of the portraits and more coverage here.

Sheena: Jo was a happy, kind, loving and sociable person with lots of friends. Jo loved children, she loved spending time with our neighbour’s little girl and babysat for other families in the neighbourhood.

My brother, William, remembers Jo as our mam’s right hand. Jo went to work at 14, as soon as she left school, and contributed the majority of her wages to the household, to help my mam, who was a single mother of four children.

Alison: I was only a year younger than Jo and we grew up very closely together. I remember Jo as a beautiful person, always ready and willing to help. Jo was quiet and gentle. She hated any sort of confrontation, so I always stood up for her and looked out for her. I wasn’t there on the night of the Stardust and still live with the guilt of not being there for here. Love you and miss you Jo.

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Sheena: I was 10 years old at the time, so I didn’t have long with my sister, but my memories of her are all good. The morning of 14th February, 1981, our neighbour called to ask if all of us were home, as there had been a fire at the Stardust.

That whole day was spent going from hospital to hospital, looking for Jo. My brother William was 17 and had to go through each hospital, seeing all the survivors, some of whom were very badly burnt and lying in baths of gel.

Jo had been admitted to hospital under a different name and it was late that evening when a family friend who worked at Jervis Street told my brother there was a girl there matching Jo’s description.

When we saw her with very few burns on her body, we were elated. We thought that she was going to be okay. Jo was on a life support machine. We sat with Jo every day, talking to her and praying that she would come back to us.

My aunt remembers lying in the bed beside my mam each night while my mam cried and prayed and pleaded with God not to take her from us. Sadly, this was not to be and the life support machine was turned off on 19th February.

Our mother understandably fell apart and struggled to go on with her life without all her children. Things at home were never the same again. All of the laughter and happiness in our lives were replaced with tears and sadness.

Sadly, our mother passed away six years ago, without ever knowing what really happened.

For 40 years the families have been fobbed off with no explanations or answers. We hope and pray that this inquest will give us those long overdue answers that should have been a priority for the Irish government 40 years ago, so our sister and our mother can finally rest in peace.