Dublin Coroners Court was informed this past Friday of a series of managerial “mishaps” at the Stardust nightclub in north Dublin that led to the “unlawful” death of 48 youths in a tragic fire incident in 1981. Brenda Campbell, KC, representing nine of the victim’s families, forcefully reiterated their closing arguments, urging the jury to establish this as the final judgement.
On the 111th day of the Stardust inquest, Ms Campbell shed light on the event and emphasised how the truths uncovered have helped dispel the long-standing “rumours, mistakes, and lies” that have tormented the affected families.
She directed her message to the jury stating, “The time has come to conclude the Stardust narrative. The upcoming chapter is under your control, which is not about pinpointing blame or determining responsibility, but about providing an honest account of the young victims’ demise.”
Particular emphasis was placed on the approximately 3,000 “highly flammable” carpet tiles that covered most of the internal walls of the club. In Campbell’s view, these played a critical role in the fire’s “aggressive and deadly spread”. When seen in conjunction with other identified shortcomings, she ascertained that these amounted to severe negligence by the Stardust management, directly contributing to the fatalities.
In her ending remarks to the jury, Campbell stated, “If you ascertain that the fire was aggravated by the presence of these exceptionally flammable carpet tiles; if you determine a lack of a concrete evacuation strategy resulted in the young attendees being trapped; if you recognise that exit doors, due to being locked, chained and blocked, caused a delay in escape efforts; and if bars on bathroom windows leashed access to fresh air and an escape route… all these pinpoint to clear negligence in implementing necessary measures to evade significant harm.”
“Given the evidence… it is practically indubitable that these shortcomings led to the fatalities. Therefore, the conclusion that the 48 victims of the Stardust fire were unlawfully killed is inevitable,” concluded Campbell.
The Dublin City Council, previously known as the Dublin Corporation, was accused of having allowed maintenance staff to lock exits even when the public was present. Objections were made concerning the closure of doors by both the corporation inspectors and members of the public, lasting two years prior to the fire. No measures were taken despite these objections.
“We came closest to punitive action or legal proceedings after a concert by The Specials on January 23rd, 1981, just mere weeks before the tragic blaze”, said Ms. Campbell. During that night, an inspector reported that doors were blocked and the venue was excessively crowded.
In respect to this, a letter dated January 27th, 1981, from Mr. Butterly guaranteed that the exits would remain unobstructed. Ms. Campbell questioned the credibility of Mr. Butterly’s assurances given the previous infringements.
She reflected on Mr. Butterly’s admission during the inquests that it was a mistake to lock away the exits. “It was indeed a mistake, a well-known one. It was flagged as a mistake and yet, it was allowed to persist. Is that tolerable?” she asked.
Bernard Condon, Senior Counsel representing the families of ten deceased victims, voiced a haunting question troubling the kin of the victims: “What were the circumstances enabling these chain of events that transformed the place into a fatal trap from which people couldn’t escape?” He stressed the need to scrutinise factors like the locked doors, carpet tiles, and lack of training, that contributed significantly to the deaths resulting in what could be deemed an unlawful killing.
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