Nicky Ryan reports from Dublin District Coroner’s Court
THE TASK THAT faced the families and friends of Stardust victims over the past few weeks was a difficult one: stand up in court, and share with a jury the details of their loved one’s life, the events of the night, and the lasting impact it had on them.
These are known as pen portraits and were delivered at new inquests into the 1981 nightclub fire that left 48 people dead.
This is just the first stage of a process that many families and survivors have long fought for. New inquests have been central to their calls for more to be done to find out the exact circumstances surrounding the death of their loved ones.
Coroner Dr Myra Cullinane told the court previously that the pen portraits were intended to “bring human detail to those lives lost” and would emphasise the centrality of families within the inquests process.
At their conclusion, she thanked the families for allowing the court “to participate in their most private and treasured memories”.
There was extreme sadness, of course, but occasional humour, which was equally moving given the loss that has been experienced.
The jury heard the intricacies of life in 1980s Ireland, from the music that people listened to and the popularity of disco dancing, to how many people who died in the fire were working to provide for their wider family, helping to supplement the household’s income.
The detail given was vivid: Helena Mangan (22) sang Loving You by Minnie Riperton to her daughter Samantha every night before she went to sleep; Robert Kelly (17) wore a Wrangler jacket that he had covered in his own embroidery; David Flood (18) had “a bit of a jagger-swagger” about him.
The stories heard of young adults getting ready for a big night out wouldn’t be out of place in today’s world.
Valerie Boyd recalled the last time she saw her friend Margaret Thornton (19):
“She called in to borrow a mauve suede bag I had because it matched the outfit she was wearing that night. She was wearing a lovely purple skirt, a mauve and purple jumper, a purple and gold scarf and black stilettos.”
Barbara Collins remembers watching “with admiration” while her older sister Thelma Frazer (20) got her makeup and her hair ready and picked out her clothes.
“Me dreaming of the day I could do the same and go dancing with her. She then hugged me, gave me a kiss and tucked me into bed before heading off with Michael for the St Valentine’s night disco,” Barbara said.
“That was the last time I saw my big sister.”
The process was highly emotional.
“How do you wake up from a nightmare like this? Only it wasn’t a nightmare,” Selina McDermott told the court.
She lost three of her siblings in the fire – William (22), George (18), and Marcella (16).
“The Stardust – God, how we hate that name. February 14, 1981, changed our lives as a family forever. Nothing could have prepared us for what was happening and about to happen. We went to bed as a family of eight siblings and woke up as five,” she said.
The eruption of chaos was in our home. It was like not knowing where to start. The crying, the wailing, the fighting and the blaming but most of all, the emptiness.
People spoke of closed coffins, and parents identifying their children using scraps of clothing or jewellery.
Many families were never the same, the jury heard.
“Like a dark shadow looming over [our family] for 40 years,” is how it was described in Gerard McGrath’s (21) pen portrait.
The pen portraits of sisters Mary (19) and Martina (16) Keegan, read by their younger brother Damien, included a note from their mother Christine, written before she passed away in 2020:
The Stardust tore our family apart. It has to be the saddest thing for any parent to have to bury their child. It was the worst day of my life… The Stardust fire took all our happy family days away from us, it took away all our belief in faith and it took away our trust with successive Governments over the years.
This is just the beginning of the inquests and is the continuation of a long fight for the families.
An original inquest in 1982 lasted just five days and recorded the cause of the deaths in accordance with medical evidence, with no reference to the circumstances or the cause of the fire.
After a long campaign by the victims’ families, in 2019 then-attorney general Seamus Woulfe directed that new inquests should take place.
The court will sit through the summer, with hundreds of witnesses due to give evidence that will inform the jury on their final verdict.
It is due to sit again on Tuesday morning when the coroner will provide more details on what the next steps will be.
Additional reporting by IINA and Press Association
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