Christine keegan RIP

Prominent stardust victims campaigner died last night

Jesus,puts apple money and cowengate into perspective




https://www.google.com/amp/s/extra.ie/2020/07/15/news/irish-news/stardust-campaigner-christine-keegan/amp

Wibbs

I remember that tragedy from my childhood and how the community was terribly affected by it. It really struck me at the time. Awful waste of life.

branie2

She's with her husband and daughters in heaven again. RIP

Vita nova

I was a teenager at the time of the tragedy and I clearly remember the sense of disbelief, shock and later anger in the country. As Wibbs said, an awful waste of life.
For a long time after Stardust I remember always checking the exits at discos and nightclubs on a night out.

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts

My mother said she still remembers how sick to her stomach and sad she felt on hearing the news about Stardust.

What a waste of lives.

And, yeah, made me think of exit strategies often when I was in crowded places. And I used to hope that the exits weren’t chained shut.

JupiterKid

I wasn’t quite 6 years of age when the Stardust tragedy happened (Feb 1981) but I remember hearing of it on the news and how big a deal it was at the time.

Then not long after Stardust the hunger strikes up North went into their final days and Bobby Sands was elected an MP and shortly died afterwards. I can imagine that 1981 was a horrible year to be a young adult in Ireland.

The fact that no-one served jail time for a very preventable and shocking loss of such young lives was - and is - a complete scandal. Ireland really was a corrupt, dysfunctional Banana Republic back then. :mad:


RIP Christine Keegan.

Hodors Appletart

The family that owned the building still have an interest in the same site, it's absolutely disgraceful the cover up and non-action about this tragedy.

It really is Ireland's Hillsborough, working class people not getting justice from the party that's been in charge of the country for decades.

I'm from the area and know people affected (I wasn't 2 when it happened), and the hurt and distrust in the state is still palpable in people from around there, and it stems from this. Three generations of people now.

It's one of the worst things Haughey did, was to enable this cover up and putting down of these people.

HildaOgdenx

I remember so well, hearing about the Stardust tragedy, at the time.

In more recent years, I have read a great deal about it. It was beyond horrific, in every way, including how the survivors, and the families of those who died, were treated.

Christine Keegan fought a long, hard battle. May she rest in peace.

JustAThought

God help her poor son and family - she fought a long hard fight against every state institution and the barricades they put up in front of her as she fought her whole life to get justice for the families.

One really has to wonder what or whom the civil servants behind it all are protecting and why.

May she finally rest in peace.
Maybe she will have a few strong words in the right ears up above so that this decade old cover up can finally be exposed and the truth be nailed to the walls and the families finally get justice.

May she Rest in peace.

arybvtcw0eolkf

I remember the Star Dust well. I was with a girl who was baby sitting for her parents, they'd gone to the club but escaped unhurt.

I pass the family grave in Balgriffin cemetery (the old original graveyard) when I'm visiting an in-laws grave and always stop at their grave & remember the night, there'll soon be a new name on the headstone now. Very sad.

There's a lovely memorial to the victims in The Stardust Memorial Park in Coolock

May the good lady rest in peace.

Galwayguy35

It is a disgrace that nearly 40 years on the families of the victims are still fighting to get answers about what happened.

1800_Ladladlad

My mam was supposed to go to stardust that night with one of her friends, My mam worked in the Mater at the time and was called to come into work at dinner time. Later in the evening, the ambulances kept pouring into the mater and she didn't know what had happened. What she recalled seeing and what she remembers hearing is still harrowing for her. It was only later on in the night that she became aware of what had happened. The friend she was supposed to go with ended up joining up and going to the dance with another crowd. Carol Bisset. She died that night. It still put the shakes into the mother when that could well have been her. All these later she still speaks about her.

RIP Christine Keegan.

PhilOssophy

RIP. I don't remember the Stardust but I do know 1 thing - if it had happend in Anabels or whatever it was called back then, there would have been a proper investigation, not an insurance payout to the owners.
It is a disgrace on successive governments that they have repeatedly ignored this issue.

Strumms

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.

That’s what happened here. Shîtloads of statements corroborated the doors were chained and padlocked closed. The fire outbreak is believed to have derived from an electrical fault in the room beside the roof space. This non planning permission compliant first-floor storage room contained dangerously flammable materials, including 45 five-gallon drums of cooking oil.

I’d love to hear the reasoning from say some retired Garda close to what happened to the investigation ..tell us how the fûck nobody got done for that... if I was a Garda at the time and after that tragedy and my superiors attempt to corrupt the investigation and themselves break the law... even if the majority of Gardai were in self preservation mode... there had to have been some with a moral compass, who under those circumstances would say... “you know what, I’m not partaking in this cover up..I’m out, with the truth and out of the Gardai”

Leg End Reject

Health and safety is now an industry so it's hard to imagine the horror those poor people felt trying to get out a fire escape that was chained shut.

RIP Christine, it takes courage to speak up for those who can't.

Gregor Samsa

I was 8 when the Stardust happened (about a mile from where I lived then). I remember going into my parent’s room the next morning and them asking me if I heard the sirens. I didn’t, but they kept them up all night. My mum knew a couple of families that had kids that were there that night - thankfully they all survived.

Christine Keegan was a tireless fighter for justice. It’s a shame she never saw it. May she rest in peace.

JuanJose

Can't help but think of her daughter - the one who survived that awful night. It must be so very hard for her to have lost her mother with questions still unanswered, doubts still lingering. I still remember passing the scene as a nipper on the crossbar of my dad's bike the morning after. An eerie sight even though I wasn't fully aware of what had unfolded the night before.

For those who want to know more, the podcast series on the Stardust by The Journal is excellent at putting you in the Dublin of the 80's & in the shoes of the familes. The campaigners for the 48 aren't done yet even if the state has been tone deaf at various times. RIP Christine Keegan. https://www.thejournal.ie/stardust-podcast-intro-4825409-Oct2019/

PhilOssophy

The cover up was so great that even Christy Moore writing a song about it was banned. Like, seriously, how do people live with themselves?

StackSteevens

PhilOssophy wrote: »

The cover up was so great that even Christy Moore writing a song about it was banned. Like, seriously, how do people live with themselves?

Here's the song if you want to listen to it. A bit diddley-aye for me, but it takes all sorts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcizhnIU2lI


New inquests were announced late last year, but presumably the Covid 19 outbreak has delayed the start; they were due to take place in April.

up for anything

JupiterKid wrote: »

I can imagine that 1981 was a horrible year to be a young adult in Ireland.

To be fair, there were very few young adults left in Ireland in those days - only the ones with womb to tomb jobs or in school.

At the time of the Stardust fire, I was working in Germany as a chambermaid (that's how old I am... no accommodation assistant title for me). There were quite a few Irish over there at the time. The day after the fire, I remember one of the Dublin girls getting a phone call on the public coin box phone in the staff accommodation and coming back up to the rooms in floods of tears telling us what had transpired. It was the first we'd heard of it. Now you'd know about it as soon as the smoke was spotted but back then especially abroad and in a country with a language we didn't really speak and no access to current Irish news it was all word of mouth.

We were all upset. Ireland was much smaller in those days and most of us knew people who could have been there or were there even if we didn't come from Dublin. A few of the girls went home over the next few days.

A very good article on this matter (outstanding journalism really)

https://www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/commentanalysis/arid-40017512.html?type=amp&__twitter_impression=true

Edgware

Strumms wrote: »

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.

That’s what happened here. Shîtloads of statements corroborated the doors were chained and padlocked closed. The fire outbreak is believed to have derived from an electrical fault in the room beside the roof space. This non planning permission compliant first-floor storage room contained dangerously flammable materials, including 45 five-gallon drums of cooking oil.

I’d love to hear the reasoning from say some retired Garda close to what happened to the investigation ..tell us how the fûck nobody got done for that... if I was a Garda at the time and after that tragedy and my superiors attempt to corrupt the investigation and themselves break the law... even if the majority of Gardai were in self preservation mode... there had to have been some with a moral compass, who under those circumstances would say... “you know what, I’m not partaking in this cover up..I’m out, with the truth and out of the Gardai”

What are you on about? The Tribunal came up with a verdict on what was brought to it. One local head went on to the news and said he had driven a car in to one of the doors despite the fact there was no door damaged by a car. The legislation that the Dublin Fire Brigade inspectors were working under was antiquated. Now a Fire Officer can inspect a place and close it down.

anewme

Every Valentines day I think of the Stardust victims and their families. My friends older sister and her friends regularly went there and were not there that night due to work.

I was very young and remember being very upset seeing the black and white photos charred remains of the building, melted ceilings and padlocked doors in the evening papers.

One of the biggest shameful cover ups of our times.

Christine Keegan fought tirelessly for justice for her daughters and other victims despite many doors being shut in her face.

RIP.

dublinman1990

It's a real scandal to know that Christine & all of the victims still have not gotten proper justice over what happened at Stardust that night. I remember watching a harrowing documentary or film on that incident on TV before some years ago when I was a teenager. To realize that all of the victims still have to wait 40 years or more to have any sort of proper justice given is a slap in the face to all of their families who are still waiting for closure.

Christine had to fight against the state for a extremely long period of time to get any sort of justice for the victims including her own family.

It's really sad to hear that she died & won't get her day of proper recognition anymore. May she RIP.

peckerhead

JupiterKid wrote: »

I can imagine that 1981 was a horrible year to be a young adult in Ireland.

(...) Ireland really was a corrupt, dysfunctional Banana Republic back then. :mad:

I sat my Leaving in 1981. It sure was, and it's only marginally better now.

RIP Christine, and my sympathies to her daughter.

JustAThought

Edgware wrote: »

What are you on about? The Tribunal came up with a verdict on what was brought to it. One local head went on to the news and said he had driven a car in to one of the doors despite the fact there was no door damaged by a car. The legislation that the Dublin Fire Brigade inspectors were working under was antiquated. Now a Fire Officer can inspect a place and close it down.

If you look back on the newreel footage from RTE from that horrific night there was a white van that was driven into the side of the Stardust building to try and smash open the barred windows and get those trapped inside out. The driver was also interviewed by the late Gay Byrne -I remember clearly that as he had done this himself his insurance was invalidated - no mercy from insurance companies even back then. He was totally traumatised by what he saw and didn’t care a toss about his van. Imagine watching screaming terrified teenagers and young people trapped inside barred windows behind a brick wall and the desperation of trying to help in any way.

The Butterly family - if you read book ‘They Never Came Home’ hd already had a pub/nighttclub in Lower Abbey Street where they had created an illegal disco in the basement that had been illegally made and was not compliant with even the basic fire regulations in those days. If I recall correctly they had twice been fined and ordered to
make changes/shut it down - and hadn’t.

The Butterly family than followed the model that had been financially successful for them and opened the Stardust - again - according to witnesess and staff workers - modifying the building illegally and not getting planning or fire certificate permissions for the changes. This was why it was subsequently argued that the WRONG layouts and floorplans were used in the original inquiry - the officials ignored the testimonials and made decisions and assumptions based on the legal planning permission floor-plans which did not take into account the illegal mezzanine floor that was created in a high heat and fire risk location and used illegally to store gallons of highly flamable floor cleaning fluids. Victims consistently reported the fire coming down in them from the cealing in this area.

Were it not for the tireless work of the Keegan family and all of the other families and people who bravely fought against an impenetrable legal and government system this simply would never have come out. Certainly assumptions and errors were made by the investigators - as well as extremely sloppy ‘investigative’ work as the family of the man with the unique dental bridge who was buried in an unnecassary unknown/ unidentifiable grave will also testify. Despite years of government ‘investigations’ and re-investigations this was found out by a volunteer decades later.

I have always said it and say it again - somebody, in the government or in official circles did sloppy work and is hiding it or knows something and is hiding it - there can be no other reason for putting these families through this hell for so many years and forcing them to fight to get inside a system to try and find out how it works so they can find a loophole to have their basic rights investigated.

RIP to all the victims of the Stardust, and may those that are still living with the horror and memories of that night and trauma somehow find peace.

py2006

Why isn't there a plaque or some even small memorial on the site?

The section of the building that was destroyed is now a car park and there should be something there.

JustAThought

py2006 wrote: »

Why isn't there a plaque or some even small memorial on the site?

The section of the building that was destroyed is now a car park and there should be something there.

Why would a family such as the Butterly family who owned it for decades, who never made any
kind of apology or showed any remorse, and who illegally had chains wrapped around the fire
doors and illegal unsafe building fines behind them want to remind anyone of their involvement . Lets face it ,this is the same Butterly family who opened a cocktail bar on the anniversary of the horrific fire in the same business park location and had a promotional half price cocktail called the Stardust. I remember reading about it in disbelief and seeing the traumatised victims and their families including the Keegans protesting outside in disbelief. This was on Valentines night not so many years ago , on the anniversary of the Stardust fire - 200+ mutilated and injured, 48 teenagers and young people killed and a mother whose teengers were at it, and had a heart attack and died when she heard.
Why would the Butterly family, who I believe own the house in the carpark of that estate, want to
remind people - I would’t cross the threshold of that business park to support any business who paid them rent and couldn’t in principle enjoy anything bought that supported, even in principle, that family - or businesses who were prepared to pay them rent. Blood money. Bought from the lives of young innocent teenagers and their families.

I believe some of that business park was put into NAMA some years ago. Nice to see our tax dollar is still bailing out and supporting the Butterley family. I guess the million pound back in 1981 when a million was worth about twenty million now, just wasn’t enough of our taxes to
give them.

I can absolutely understand how the Keegan family are unable to ‘let it go’ , or to
‘put what happened behind them’ as
people blithely say, and have spent their whole lives since highlighting the utter injustices and looking for answers for all the victims of the Butterly family and their Stardust teenage inferno.

py2006

JustAThought wrote: »

Lets face it ,this is the same Butterly family who opened a cocktail bar on the anniversary of the horrific fire in the same business park location and had a promotional half price cocktail called the Stardust. I remember reading about it in disbelief and seeing the traumatised victims and their families including the Keegans protesting outside in disbelief.

I did not know this. That's incredibly disgusting and disrespectful to say the least.

I am just looking at the site on Google Maps and they have their business name proudly above the original facade.

Perhaps the Maxol garage was strategically placed to block that site from view.

Gregor Samsa

py2006 wrote: »

Why isn't there a plaque or some even small memorial on the site?

The section of the building that was destroyed is now a car park and there should be something there.

The families did take it into their own hands (I assume it was taken down).

https://twitter.com/LNBDublin/status/1096151201203261440

Stovepipe

The practise of chaining doors was quite common then (i remember it from nightclubs and pubs in Cork of that time) and the reason was that operators didnt want customers or staff leaving their mates in the fire door or staff stealing drink and passing it out to their mates. Every cop and fireman in Ireland knew the safe, compliant clubs and pubs and the ones to stay away from. Chairs piled up to block the exits was another method, as was rebar welded over the toilet windows. Seen it plenty of times. Another gotcha was the materials used in the building. Didnt they say polysytrene ceiling tiles melted onto the punters in the Stardust? Usually, the biggest worry in a nightclub was getting your jacket nicked or getting into a fight over spilt drink. You'd never think that'd you'd be in a firestorm in a dingy nightclub. May they rest in peace,all of them.