LAST UPDATE | 9 Aug
CABINET HAS SIGNED off on a €24 million redress scheme for the Stardust families.
The redress scheme, which has been agreed with the families, follows the Stardust inquest verdict of unlawful killing last April.
The jury in the inquests delivered verdicts of unlawful killing in the case of all 48 victims who died in the nightclub fire on 14 February 1981.
It also determined that the fire started in a hot press on the premises, and that it was caused by an electrical fault.
The inquests had begun in April 2023 and were the longest ever held in Ireland. The verdict was hailed as a breakthrough by family members and others who have fought for justice for those who died, were injured, and those who survived that night.
Taoiseach Simon Harris and the Minister for Justice Helen McEntee brought the memo to an incorporeal Cabinet meeting following the conclusion of discussions between the government and the representatives of the families.
The Government has now approved a scheme of ex gratia redress awards totalling €24 million which has been agreed with the families’ legal representatives.
If split evenly between the 48 victims’ families, as is expected, each will receive €500,000. No payments have been made yet, but it is understood they are imminent.
In a statement, the government said 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.
The Taoiseach said he and the State understands that you can never put a price or amount on the loss of a life. He said the families wanted him to “know and understand” their pain ahead of delivering the State apology, something Harris said he sought to achieve.
Darragh Mackin, Partner at Phoenix Law, who led the negotiations with the government on behalf of the families said today’s development is the “crystallisation of the intense and relentless engagement with the government and Ms Sara Moorehead SC (representing the State) 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,” he said.
Mackin said 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.
“In line with this week, like our Northside Olympic hero Kellie Harrington, these families leave the stage as champions.
“Testament must be paid to an Taoiseach, the Minister for Justice and Ms Moorehead SC whose commitment and dedication to this process has been unrivalled. 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.”
Today’s redress decision relates to those that lost their lives in the fire, with engagement on redress for survivors to continue, along with discussions on other supports for the families and survivors such as life-long counselling.
In his apology, the Taoiseach said the families had endured “a living nightmare” and that it is the State’s “eternal shame” that it took two generations for truth and justice to be achieved.
He said the families were forced to fight for decades to “obtain the vindication you won last Thursday when the inquest returned a verdict of unlawful killing in the case of your 48 family members”.
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