SINN FÉIN SENATOR Lynn Boylan has accused the government of repeated cold-heartedness in its dealings with the Stardust families.

The families are the relatives of the 48 people who died and 128 who were injured in 1981 when a fire broke out in the Stardust nightclub in Artane. 

“Last week the Stardust families were invited to another preliminary hearing ahead of the Stardust inquest beginning.

“Despite the Rotunda Pillar Room now being leased for the Inquest — after the government allowed the lease on the RDS to run out — the families have been informed that the pre-inquest hearing will now take place at the Dublin District Coroner’s Court in Store Street,” she said. 

In a statement, Boylan has said that this has “shocked and annoyed” many of the families who now refuse to attend. 

There were several inquiries over the years including inquests in 1982 which recorded deaths in accordance with the medical evidence.

Following a long campaign by the families of those who died in the blaze, the government in 2019 directed the holding of fresh inquests due to an “insufficiency of inquiry as to how the deaths occurred namely a failure to sufficiently consider those of the surrounding circumstances that concern the cause or causes of the fire”.

The Store Street Court, the latest venue for the inquest, is the venue of “the original much-maligned Stardust Inquest and holds horrific memories for the families,” Boylan said in her statement, accusing the government of “repeated cold-heartedness” and adding that it “must ensure the Rotunda Pillar Room is used for any pre-inquest meeting.”

She added that issues regarding jury selection and income protection were discussed with the victims’ families by Minister Helen McEntee in February, who “promised that she would immediately proceed on progressing legislation concerning jury selection and income protection,” said Boylan.  

“We are now in May and there is still no progress. The families have been informed that the matter is ‘with the Attorney General’.

“If new legislation is required, time is now of the essence. The Dáil will break for the summer recess in July and will return in late September.

The lease for the Rotunda Pillar Room, which is still unused, will expire in February 2023, so it’s possible that, “once again, there will be no venue for a Stardust Inquest next year,” said Boylan. 

“The government must now grasp, as a matter of urgency, how important all these decisions are to the Stardust families. It is now over 41 years since the Stardust Fire and time is running out for the families.

“I have written to Minister McEntee to highlight the families’ concerns, and I have asked her to please set out a timetable for urgent action and to ensure any pre-inquest hearings take place in the Rotunda Pillar Room.

“The families are tired, upset and at the end of their tethers. They cannot take much more,” she said.