Stardust fire: Service marks 40th anniversary of nightclub tragedy
- Published
Forty-eight people died in the fire in Dublin on St Valentine's Day
The Archbishop of Dublin has paid tribute to the victims of the Stardust nightclub fire, 40 years on from the "senseless tragedy".
Forty-eight people died in the fire in Artane, Dublin, on St Valentine's Day 1981, including three from Northern Ireland.
More than 200 others were injured.
Speaking during a service at St. Joseph the Artisan Catholic Church, Archbishop Dermot Farrell described it as a "terrible tragedy" and "dreadful loss".
"The anniversary reminds us all of the great pain that so many families for all these years have carried in their hearts," he said.
"Who could fail to be moved by the festering hurt held by the families of the Stardust disaster for more than 40 years now.
'Inexpressible grief and sadness'
The archbishop said he stood in solidarity with families in their "inexpressible grief and sadness" and said he was "praying for healing".
"The loss of life is always tragic but the loss of young and innocent life is beyond tragedy."
The average age of those killed in the fire was 19. All of the dead were aged between 16 and 28.
Susan Morgan from Londonderry and James Millar and Robert Hillock from Twinbrook, in west Belfast, were among those who died.
The fire broke out in the early hours of 14 February 1981 as a disco dancing contest was being held at the nightclub.
The archbishop added that the night's loss had only been "compounded" by the families' long quest for justice.
The remains of the Stardust nightclub after the fire in 1981
Antoinette Keegan, from Coolock in Dublin, survived the inferno but was badly injured.
She said the anniversary is "always a sad day".
"It's just something that we never forget," Ms Keegan told BBC Radio Ulster's Sunday Sequence programme.
Ms Keegan's sisters, Mary, 19, and Martina, 16, both died in the tragedy.
"I'm still trapped in Stardust. I wake up in the morning - Stardust.
"Breakfast, dinner and tea, it's Stardust. I can't get it out of my head, it's a memory that will never, ever leave me."
Fresh inquests
In September 2019 it was announced that fresh inquests were to be held into what happened on the night.
The application for fresh inquests was made by victims' families in April 2019, after years of campaigning.
They were meant to begin in 2021, ahead of the 40th anniversary, however, they have not yet started.
Legal representatives for the families said it could be the summer before difficulties with funding for legal representation can be resolved and the proceedings can get under way, RTÉ has reported., external
The ceiling collapsed shortly after the fire broke out
A tribunal, chaired by Justice Ronan Keane, was held in the year following the fire.
He concluded the cause was "probably arson", which was contested by victims' families.
In 2009, an independent examination into the tribunal reported there was no evidence to support Justice Keane's finding that the fire was started deliberately near the ballroom of the nightclub.
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