Tonight is the 30th anniversary of the Stardust tragedy.

I remember watching the tv on the Saturday and they announced it. I was 10 and remember thinking of the peoples terror at being trapped and not being able to get out. It's so awful that so many young people died and others health were affected for years and them and their families still haven't had justice.

My aunt died in that. Valentines day is still an awful day for my granmother and it still seems to be so raw still. Oh the stories you would hear over the years, screaming parents packed into store street trying to get a list of the dead and injured from the gards. Apparently it took a few days to find out if your kid was injured or dead. My grandmother went out to the disco the night off to try find her only to find rows of covered dead bodies, she said she'll never forget the smell of burned flesh in the air.

RIP to all the victims

Jake Rugby Walrus666 wrote: »

The place was an all round **** hole - with dodgy electrics.

By inventing the lie of an 'Arsonist' it took the spotlight away from the condition of the premises and its fitness and safety to be open to the public.

No argument that fire regulations were nothing like they are now and I agree with an earlier poster that it took the Stardust to finally shake up the authorities. Sadly what also existed back then was rampant corruption in that public authorities who were supposed to impose and police standards were leaned on by the politicians in power to ignore breaches of food hygiene and fire safety regulations, it happened all over the country. That's why there used to be so many publicans in the Dail and it also explains why Michael McDowell's proposal for a 'cafe society' which would have loosened up the licensing regulations were flushed down the toilet by the publicans lobby who are still active in local politics all over the country.

Back in the 70s and 80s everyone went to nightclubs and saw the padlocked fire exits, we all knew that if they weren't padlocked that only one person in each group would pay to get in, then he'd let all his friends in through the fire exit.

On the suggestion that the arsonist was 'invented', can I point out that the tribunal was headed by Ronan Keane who had no axe to grind with the pub trade or the local residents. He held that arson was the 'most likely' cause of the accident, most people would have said that it was either arson or a cigarette butt carelessly thrown into an unoccupied part of the club on the night. The problem the Stardust committee have with this finding is that under the laws at the time the Butterly family were able to claim compensation for malicious damage from the local authority, they see this as rubbing salt in their wounds. Either way, the committee have had their hopes raised and dashed at various times over the years.

However there is an issue of significant public interest in what they are looking for which is to have the findings on the original inquiry set aside and the problem is that if that happens in the case of the Stardust, it can also happen in respect of any public inquiry ever held in this country. That means that if the tribunal investigating Michael Lowry and Denis O'Brien finds against them, they can go straight to the courts in an attempt to get those findings overturned and the whole process will start all over again. This is the 'appalling vista' scenario that binds the hands of any Government which attempts to give the Stardust committee what they are looking for.

pmcmahon wrote: »

locking the fire escape doors

:eek: He what??
How could he??:(
This was years before I was born, so I don't know anything about it, but wow, so sad RIP.