Sir, – Forty years, almost to the day, after 48 youngsters and teenagers lost their lives in the Stardust inferno, you report that an inquest ordered by the former attorney general Séamus Woulfe in 2019 shows no sign of commencing ("Stardust inquests delayed by legal aid row", News, February 13th).
I don’t want to rehash Kitty Holland’s front-page article – but the subheading says it all: “Solicitor for bereaved families says department has not released any funding”.
Your reporter goes on to tell us that the bereaved relatives have yet to finalise the appointment of a legal team because, as their solicitor, Darragh Mackin says, the Department of Justice has not released any funding despite the application for legal aid having been approved, and €8.2 million being allocated in Budget 21. It appears the impasse, as seen by the Department of Justice, is the arrangement of how the funds will be delivered – whether in 46 per diem payments made daily to Mr Mackin who then pays senior counsel, a method described by him as “totally ludicrous”. He says he can reduce the overall costs if arrangements are made to pay lawyers and barristers in advance to prepare the case.
“The department hasn’t come back with a response despite numerous requests”, Mr Mackin says. Antoinette Keegan, who lost two sisters on that awful night, said, “The department has done nothing but mess us around, obstruct and fight with us for the past 40 years.”
:fill(white):background_color(white)/static.themebuilder.aws.arc.pub/irishtimes/1647534191476.png)
In its clear recognition of the pain endured over the past 40 years by the relatives of the victims as they seek the truth, the Department of Justice issued a statement. A spokesman said: “The department is aware the coroner has certified applications for legal aid from the families of those who died in the Stardust fire. The department and its agencies continue to engage in this matter to ensure the families have the support they require.”
At first, on reading this, I asked myself why Kitty Holland bothered including this banal, anodyne, meaningless utterance from the Department of Justice, and why you, as editor, bothered to print it. Then the genius of your actions struck me. Thank you for pointing out that a large section of our very well-paid senior civil servants are tasked with producing such dreary, cynical obfuscation. It sure beats getting on with the job of ensuring that the bereaved of 46 tragically young dead see any long-delayed relief from a 40-year nightmare. It is obviously not the business of Department of Justice to deliver justice. – Yours, etc,
LIAM STENSON,
Galway.