The Irish Government approved a scheme of ex gratia redress awards totaling €24 million for Stardust victims and their families on Friday, August 9.
The redress scheme, which has been agreed to by the families’ legal representatives, was finalized on Friday following discussions with representatives of the Stardust families.
The Department of the Taoiseach said in a statement: "The finalisation of this redress package is the culmination of a series of steps the Government has taken to recognise the State failure to provide truth and justice over more than forty years to the families whose 48 relatives were killed in a fire, which was subsequently found by inquest to be unlawful killing."
In the early hours of February 14, 1981, a fire broke out inside the Stardust nightclub in Dublin when more than 800 people were inside at the time.
48 people were killed and more than 200 people suffered injuries during the tragedy.
The 48 who never came home. pic.twitter.com/ehTeNZPTj2
— Justice for Stardust 48 (@48NeverCameHome) April 18, 2024
On April 18 of this year, a jury ruled that the 48 deaths were "unlawful." The ruling was in stark contrast with the original verdict of the 1982 Keane Tribunal, which ruled that the fire was "probably" started deliberately. Families of the victims challenged that ruling and it was officially struck from the record in 2009.
In 2019, Ireland's Attorney General ordered fresh inquests which began in April 2023.
Five days after the jury issued its findings this year, Taoiseach Simon Harris offered a formal apology on behalf of the Irish government to the Stardust victims and families, some of whom were present in the Dáil for the Taoiseach's address.
The Taoiseach said in part: "Today we say formally and without any equivocation, we are sorry. We failed you when you needed us the most. From the very beginning, we should have stood with you, but instead, we forced you to stand against us."
The Taoiseach added that he has asked his Department to "prepare proposals to appropriately commemorate the disaster, as requested by the families."
On June 23, the Stardust nightclub tragedy was commemorated in a ceremony at Dublin's Garden of Remembrance.
RTÉ News reported at the time of the commemoration that the redress scheme had been circulated to victims' families.
Phoenix Law, the firm that represented the Stardust families during the redress negotiations, said that the Cabinet had formally reconvened on Friday "on an extraordinary basis" over the summer recess to approve the sum for onward payment to the families.
Darragh Mackin, Partner at Phoenix Law who led the negotiations with the Government on behalf of the families, said on Friday: “Today’s development is the crystallisation of the intense and relentless engagement with the Government and Ms. Sara Moorehead SC over the last number of months.
"The unprecedented sum paid to the families 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.
"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.
"These payments are the gateway to a new dawn for the families of these victims. A new dawn whereby the truth is known, and where they can now, each return to a life free from injustice and litigation. A new dawn whereby their families will be compensated with the greatest prize of all: the return of their families and friends who for four decades have been absent due to their unrivalled devotion to justice."
Mackin thanked the Taoiseach, Minister for Justice Helen McEntee, and Sara Moorehead SC "whose commitment and dedication to this process has been unrivaled."
Mackin added: "In line with An Taoiseach’s words in the apology, the state no longer works against these families but works with them.
"In line with their commitment, they have taken steps to ensure these families are brought back in from the cold.”
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