Families of Stardust victims to get compensation

Survivors and family members of victims in the Garden of Remembrance in Dublin after a verdict of unlawful killing was returned

The families of the 48 young people who died in the Stardust fire are to receive €500,000 (£428,195) in compensation for each victim.

Irish cabinet ministers signed off on a redress scheme worth €24m (£20.5m) on Friday.

In April of this year, an inquest found that the 48 young people had been unlawfully killed at the Stardust nightclub in Artane, north Dublin, on Valentine’s night, 1981.

While many of the victims of the fire hailed from the north Dublin area, three of the young people were from Northern Ireland; Robert Hillick and James Millar from Belfast and Susan Morgan from Londonderry.

State apology

The jury found the fire started in the hot press in the main bar of the nightclub and was caused by an electrical fault.

An initial finding from the first inquest of arson was dismissed as baseless.

Families of victims campaigned for decades for justice and were vindicated this year with an official state apology from Taoiseach (Irish prime minister) Simon Harris.

Mr Harris said the young people had been maligned and their families had been dismissed because of class and neglect.

The memo outlining the plan was tabled by Mr Harris and Minister for Justice Helen McEntee, however, the meeting was held remotely as the Dáil is in recess and the ministers are not present in Dublin.

In a statement on Friday afternoon, the Irish government said it "welcomed the conclusion of discussions with the representatives of the Stardust families on redress arrangements".

It confirmed it the scheme had been agreed with the families’ legal representatives.

Mr Harris said that "no sum of money can replace the loss of a loved one".

"The state understands very clearly and I understand extraordinarily clearly having met with the families, that you can never put any price or any amount on the loss of a life," he added.

Darragh Mackin from Phoenix Law, who represented 47 of the 48 families affected, said the compensation "is reflective of the unprecedented miscarriage of justice bestowed on these families".

"It is impossible to put a value on the loss these families have sustained," he added.

"However, these payments go a considerable way to providing support to these families for all their relentless efforts and life investment, which they so courageously devoted over the last four decades."

Mr Mackin said the payments represented "the gateway to a new dawn for the families".