Finally, after campaigning for more than four decades, the families of those that didn’t come home from the Stardust disaster have official acceptance of what was known from the start – their family members were unlawfully killed. Here Kieran Allen explains why it took 43 years for the state to accept this verdict.
The verdict of ‘unlawful killing’ is a vindication for Stardust families who campaigned for over 40 years. But why did they have to wait so long?
The explanation lies in a dark story that takes us to the inner workings of the Irish state. Its defining features is a mismatch between its ‘words of concern’ and deeds which seek to obstruct, divert and wear out people seeking justice.
In 1981 a High Court judge, Ronan Keane, sided with the owners of the Stardust, the Butterlys’, and ruled that the cause of the fire was probable arson.
Closing Ranks
Keane’s wife, Terry Keane, was a longstanding lover of the Fianna Fáil leader Charles Haughey. She claimed that Haughey had “orchestrated” the appointment after she suggested that he be a High Court judge.
The Butterlys were longstanding Fianna Fáil supporters. Patrick Butterly, the father of the owner, Eamon, wrote a book, From Radishes to Riches, where he stated that the family were “all Fianna Fáilers”. He was a member of the party’s fundraising machine, Taca, through the 1970s and 1980s. “What you had these people for was to help get things,” he wrote. “If you wanted someone who could do something […] you asked these people.”
Keane’s verdict had dramatic consequences. It meant that the families could not sue for alleged negligence. Incredibly, it also meant that the Butterlys could.
In June 1983, two Butterly companies brought a claim seeking £3 million from Dublin Corporation. The Circuit Court judge dealing with the claim found in their favour and declared he was satisfied the fire was indeed malicious. The companies were awarded damages of £581,000.
When the 1981 state papers were released, they showed that a senior advisor to the then-Taoiseach, Charles Haughey, had accused RTÉ of undermining the Stardust Tribunal. The advisor said they did this by airing an in-depth report into the dancehall tragedy.
Campaigning…
From an early stage it was clear that the Irish state was going to do everything it could to stop working class families in Dublin’s Northside from getting justice.
In July 1985, for example, the singer Christy Moore was found guilty of contempt of court for writing and releasing a song, titled “They Never Came Home”, about the plight of the victims.
Most other people would have been ground down by the obstacles thrown in their way; but the state bureaucrats reckoned without the courage and tenacity of the Stardust campaigners. In the forty years since the fire, they fought like lions, protesting and fighting when many thought theirs was a forgotten cause.
In 2006 Eamon Butterly planned to re-open licensed premises on the site of the Stardust on the 25th anniversary of the deaths. Protests were organised by the victims’ families and their supporters which lasted for 10 weeks and only ended when the Butterly family agreed to erect a memorial on the site. Throughout the protests Christy Moore’s song was played loudly.
But still the Irish state continued its cat and mouse game. Before the final verdict of unlawful killing, other inquiries were organised.
…And more campaigning
In 2009, relatives held a sit-in at government buildings to demand that a new report be issued. The Government responded by appointing a senior counsel Paul Coffey to conduct an examination. But he concluded that it would not be in the public interest to reopen the public inquiry even if the original verdict of arson was overturned.
In 2016, the Programme for Government promised to revisit the Stardust fire if there was new evidence. But as Junior Minister Finian McGrath revealed, there was a concerted campaign from inside the Department of Justice to obstruct any action. The only result was the appointment of yet another commission of inquiry, this time headed up by the judge Pat McCartan. Disgracefully, McCartan concluded that,
“Having considered all the material submitted by the Committee, there is no new or updated evidence disclosed in the meaning of the terms of this Assessment and no new enquiry is warranted.”
Most people would have given up when faced with this kind of stonewalling. But not the Stardust families. They have now finally weaselled the real truth out of the Irish State.
The Stardust fire was the result of a desire to extract as much money as possible from the working class people of Dublin’s Northside. Doors were locked lest too many get into the venue for free; there was no fire training of staff to cut costs; the walls were plastered with materials which easily caught fire.
And to get out of their responsibilities, its owners concocted a story that the fire was started deliberately.
No doubt the political establishment will shed a few crocodile tears and, maybe, issue an apology. But the failure to provide justice to Stardust families for more than four decades tells us how the Irish state operates.
Let’s never forget.
