Government 'dragging its heels' on Stardust inquiry

The Stardust Victims' Committee has expressed concern that the government is ‘dragging its heels' over the establishment of a fresh judicial inquiry into the causes of the 1981 disaster. 

In December 2006 Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said he would be willing to arrange for an external and independent examination of new material explaining the causes of the fire. This material was submitted to the government in the summer of 2006. He said that the submission provided by the victims' committee could be examined by “an eminent legal person”.

The material showed that the fire was most likely caused by an electirical fault which set fire to combustibles, including gallons of cooking oil, held in a store room adjacent to the roof space of the building.  

The new information, including the opinion of fire experts, undermines the findings of the report of the Stardust tribunal in 1982 which decided the fire was most likely caused by arson. The victims' committee has argued that tribunal chairman Judge Ronan Keane was misled as to the location and contents of the store room during the Stardust inquiry.

“We were told in December that the Taoiseach had agreed to arrange for a new examination of our submission by an eminent legal person. We have heard nothing since. The victims' committee is insisting that this new inquiry be headed by a judge or a retired judge and that he be allowed to hear evidence and submissions in public,” Antoinette Keegan (pictured below, second from left) of the Stardust Victims' Committee told Village.

“The families are getting very concerned that the government is dragging its heels on this. The Taoiseach's office has indicated to us that they want the Department of Justice to run this inquiry and we are opposed to that. The original Stardust inquiry criticised the department for its shortcomings and more recently the department has said there was nothing new in our submissions As far as we are concerned they are part of the problem and this should be run by the Taoiseach's department,” she said. “We are also concerned that the government is trying to push this beyond the general election so that the Stardust victims are forgotten again.”  
A concert in memory of the 48 victims and the survivors of the 1981 disaster will take place in the Helix at DCU on 15 February 2007. Among those due to perform are Mary Black, Finbarr Furey, Don Baker and Mickey Harte. Tickets €25 from the Helix 01 7007000 or www.thehelix.ie.

FRANK CONNOLLY