In 1981, a terrible fire at the Stardust nightclub killed 48 people. This Thursday, April 18, a Dublin court highlighted the failings that led to this tragedy, vindicating the victims’ families after a long legal battle.
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They were between 16 and 27 years old and lost their lives during that terrible night in February 1981. This Saturday, February 14, 42 people died inside the Stardust due to inhalation of smoke and heat, in the the deadliest fire in Ireland. Six others died after the tragedy. This tragedy sent shock waves through Ireland in the early hours of Valentine’s Day, with 200 injured and 800 people leaving the club in panic to save their lives.
More than 40 years later, a Dublin court highlighted on Thursday the failings which led to their deaths. The jurors considered that malfunctions inside the club located in the north of the Irish capital were at the origin of the fire which cost the lives of the victims, definitively ruling out the hypothesis of a criminal act caused by one of them. The fire started because of an electrical fault, the jury concluded, and the nightclub’s emergency exits were padlocked or blocked, trapping many victims inside.
Gathered in a courtroom in Dublin, the families of the 48 victims, half of whom were aged 18 or minors at the time of the fire, strongly applauded this decision. Through a committee, they pleaded tirelessly for decades for a new investigation into the cause of the tragedy, rejecting the conclusion that a “probable” arson had been started by one of the party-goers. A new investigation was finally opened in April 2023, and more than 370 people were interviewed over three months.
“ In 1981, the court found that my son had the potential to be an arsonist! I knew then that it was up to his mother to give him back his reputation, his identity, and his mother did it! », Claims Gertrude Barrett, mother of Michael, who died in the fire at the age of 17. “ There are still many questions we want answered! What happened at the time was hushed up. Who is behind this? », questions Jimmy O’Marah, who came to court with his daughter Susan, at the microphone of our correspondent in Dublin, Clemence Pénard.
This tragedy was “ one of the darkest moments in our history », Underlined Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris in a press release. “ For four decades, the victims’ families bore the weight of this tragedy with unwavering strength and dignity. The government will review this decision and the jury’s recommendations in their entirety “, he added.
Several relatives of the victims have already declared after leaving the court that they were waiting for a formal apology from the Irish state for having taken so long to reach this verdict.
(And with AFP)