Stardust tragedy in Dublin: Derry and Strabane reps salute families 'remarkable resilience and resolve'

The fire at the nightclub in Artane, Dublin, on Valentine’s Day, 1981, claimed the lives of 48 people.

Last week an inquest into the tragedy concluded that the victims were unlawfully killed following an electrical fault.

Sinn Féin councillor Sandra Duffy saluted survivors’ and victims’ families’ “remarkable resilience and resolve” at a Full Council Meeting on Wednesday.

“My thoughts are with the survivors and the families of those who lost their lives in this tragedy,” Councillor Duffy said. “Especially today the family and friends of Susan Morgan from Derry.

“They have campaigned tirelessly for truth and justice for over 40 years, and the determination they’ve shown has been nothing short of inspirational.

“Last week’s verdict confirmed what survivors and victims’ families have always known, and they had to fight until 2019 to get a second inquest and had to continue to fight the State until it started.

“For this remarkable resilience and resolve we salute them. The 48 young lives taken in the Stardust tragedy will be forever missed, but now each family has the comfort of knowing the truth.

“This inquest has taken the victims out of the darkness and into the sunshine and the light.”

Derry woman Finola McDevitt, who survived the fire at the the Dublin venue that night, told the Journal last week that ‘unlawful killing’ was the only just verdict for what happened to her best friend Susan Morgan and 47 others who perished in the Stardust in 1981.

"That's what it was. There is no excuse for what happened that night. The doors were barred. I was there. I saw it,” said Finola.

Andrew Balfour,

Local Democracy Reporter