All language subtitles for Stardust.2024.S01E02.Aftermath.1080p.RTE.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-playWEB_track3_[eng]

The scream's coming from inside.

We're trying to climb out
windows and that, you know?

The bodies. Some of them
had fallen apart.

It was like a fire in hell.

I said, Please God, help us, help
us.

I thought, then, I had died.

All them people dead, like you know?

Everybody knew somebody.

As daylight came, we saw this
shell and what had happened.

It It was like a morgue.

A lot of the people who were
naturally trapped

seemed to be trying to get through
the exit at the time,

and they just didn't make it.

It was as simple as that.

People heard about this on a radio
and realised,

Well, my son and my daughter hasn't
come home,

where are they?

(overlapping news broadcasts in
different languages)

St. Valentine's Day, 1981, will be
remembered in Dublin for ever.

And 700 terrified teenagers

were struggling for the windows
and doors.

The firemen were appalled
at what they saw.

Exits blocked with those who had
suffocated

and those who had been knocked

to the ground in the fight for
air and safety.

Eight minutes- All but five of the
dead were taken to the city morgue.

It will take several hours before
the bodies

are suitable for looking at.

Pat Dunne: A lot of stuff unfolded
on the radio.

So I rang my brother Peter,
then I said, Brian is not at home.

So I said, What are you thinking?

Have you been watching
Stardust or listening to it?

He said, Yeah.

I said, I'm thinking
slightly on those lines.

He said, I know he wanted to go,

but his boss wouldn't let him.

So he said, I'll ring
the Sacks Hotel.

So he rang and he said,
Yes, Brian went.

News Archive: ...the sorrows of the
night, the loss of the young.

There were harrowing scenes of
sadness, too,

at the hospitals all over the city.

As mothers and fathers
went...

There were scenes of great-

Selina McDermott: I didn't see me
mam and dad til late next morning

because they were still
out looking for them.

They couldn't find them.

There was traffic in and out, in
and out. Seen them,

No, we didn't see them.
Somebody said they seen.

Somebody said they went
to that hospital.

No, they went to that hospital.

Errol Buckley: I met up with the
family.

We have to go and look Jimmy.

Jimmy is missing.

So we were hoping an
ambulance took him.

So the family just started
searching all the hospitals.

You were seeing people in hospital,
like, other people that you knew.

And I said, Did you see Jimmy?

He said, No, Jaysus no. I didn't
see him.

You could check into the hospital
and they had some sort of names.

And they would just say,
No, there's nothing there.

They are seriously burnt.

They're suffering from burns.

Yes, they're all burns.

And some patients,

as is usual in a big accident of
this kind,

a big burning accident,

they have burn damage to their lungs

as well as to the surface
of the body.

Tony McCullough: In the hospitals,
it was complete roulette in terms of

nobody had any information.

So parents went from one
hospital to the next.

In some cases, they didn't
even recognise

their children because they were
covered in soot

or they were very badly burned.

I managed to make it to the main
door

where there was about, I think
there was about

100 people there with me.

I was pushed back, and therefore my
hands was...

My whole body had to
fell into a fire,

which was coming in,

and nobody could breathe for
about three minutes.

I don't know how any of us lasted.

Honestly, I don't.

It's been just a horrifying
experience for us all.

Selina McDermott:
Willy was found first.

They found him at the hospital.

There wasn't much of a scratch
on Willy.

It was all fumes.

Willy had died.

I remember my mother,
she fell to the ground.

She was at home, and she said
the other two aren't coming back.

Pat Dunne: My brother Peter
rang back and said,

We're going to do the hospitals.

So they spoke, I think, to a
guard maybe or something

in the hospital, said, try the
morgue, and Peter goes,

Why the morgue?

She said, Well, you haven't found
him in any of the hospitals.

News Archive: The morgue isn't big
enough for a disaster of the size,

and the bodies, half of the male,
half female,

have been led out in a tent erected
the rear of the red brick building.

Dr. Patrick Bofin: Because of the
extent of the burns,

identification is a great problem.

If relatives are coming here,

I would like if they could have as
detailed a description,

not just of the deceased, but of
what clothing they're wearing,

what jewellery they have, earrings,
tattoo marks, and things like that.

Have you any idea of many relatives
have contacted you at this stage?

Oh, several hundred.
Pardon?

Several hundred.
Several hundred?

Yes.

Maurice McHugh: My wife, Phyllis,
and I

were invited to a wedding in
Manchester.

Our daughter, Caroline,
she didn't want to go.

So when we were in Manchester,

the house was very busy the
following morning

they were all getting ready
for the wedding.

So we decided what we do,
we'd go up

the local shopping centre just to
get offside, to be honest.

We went up, we're only up there 10

minutes when Phyllis'
uncle came, ashen faced.

Out of bad news, he says,

there's had to be a fire in the
Stardust in Dublin,

and Caroline is missing.

We started making a phone call
from a coin box back to Dublin.

And eventually we got through to
Phyllis's brother-in-law.

Bobby said, Look, we think
Caroline's in the morgue.

Just like that.

And we're not 100% sure.

Then Maurice said,
We better go back to the house.

I'll never forget it now.

Everybody was devastated.

The bride was devastated.

And it wasn't fair on the bride.
And then we just went then.

It was very hard to
get a flight home.

News Archive: Many victims never got
as far as hospital.

And for their families,

the tragic loss was compounded
by the grim need for identification.

Garda Frank Cullinane: I was
detailed to mind bodies,

like they were taken into the
morgue...

16, 17, 18 years of age.

So many.

I see them, they all lined up
on the slabs.

A couple of hours earlier,

they were probably the heart and
soul of the party.

News Archive: A steady stream of
relatives and friends

have been calling at the morgue
since 10 o'clock this morning.

Priests from several city
parishes have been there.

For the families that had to come
and identify them,

it was absolutely terrible.

Dr. Patrick Bofin: And I would
hope that

we would have everybody
identified here.

That's my hope.

To the Garda in Stowe Street,
people were out of their minds,

all praying that they would not
find their sons or daughters.

Tony McCullough: The were just
incredibly emotional scenes

with mothers and fathers
breaking down in tears.

A Garda said, I could hear people
screaming

through our radio in the police
station.

Many of them weren't
allowed to go in to

see their children because of the
extent of the injuries,

but they were presented in some
cases with items of clothing

or items of jewellery to try

help identify the bodies
of their children.

I talked to the City coroner, Dr.
PJ Bofin.

Some people had a lot of clothing,

perfectly identifiable,
and others weren't.

Or didn't have any clothing.

There was a queue for the morgue.

I think there was a young
guard there and a nun inside.

Peter went up and down the rows a few
times and then stopped on a bundle.

There was the buckle of the belt
and a piece of jumper,

a wine-colored v-neck jumper,
and I think a shoe.

And then walked up and down again.

And there was the young guard
who was only a kid at the time.

And he said, I see you stopping at
this particular bundle all the time.

And Peter said, But that's not Brian.

So he said, Do you recognise
anything? And he said, Yes.

The belt he did go for the birthday
in Zurich,

and a piece of jumper,
a piece of shoe.

They were searching for a person
rather than what was there.

So the young guard then said to
Peter,

I think you should settle for
what's there.

And he rang me then and he said,
We found him.

He's here.

Maurice McHugh: The nearest place
we get a flight from was Liverpool.

So what we did, we drove down
to Liverpool.

And as we were driving
down there,

there wasn't a word spoken
in the car.

As storm broke, small crowds
gathered outside the club.

Unable to grasp the enormity
of the tragedy that had occurred.

Eventually, we got back to Dublin
about half eight that night,

and we went down to the morgue
and we were

greeted by a detective,
and there was a nun there as well.

They said, Listen, we think we've
Caroline here.

And then we were handed a little bit
of an envelope,

and in it was a chain, her name,
Caroline,

a little bit of the watch,
a pocket for her jeans,

which she had a comb in it

because she had very good hair
and she loved her hair.

The comb was melted into the pocket,

and we were handed that,
and she was number 6.

Bagged and tied, number 6.

No names, no nothing.

That upset us as well.

But the advised at that stage

not to see Caroline's remains
because she was so badly burned.

News Archive: ...many were trapped.

A disaster of dreadful
proportions was taking place.

The areas of Coolock,
Donnycarney,

Artane devastated.
Their young,

the pride of their families

taken swiftly, cruelly from them.

Errol Buckley: The police go after
the door in Donnycarney

They said, You can come
down to the morgue.

We think we have Jimmy - I think it
was on Tuesday -

so we found out then, like,
you know? That was it then.

We knew what had happened.

And there was a general panic where
friends and brothers and sisters

and boyfriends were trying to get
into a fire to their friends.

They didn't know where they were.

Selina McDermott: They found George
at the morgue.

It was the same with Marcella.

With Marcella, the dental work
that she had got done,

and that's how they knew it
was Marcella.

And then they just told my mother.

That the three of them were gone.

I just couldn't believe it.

It took three.

Three of my kids.

You know, that just went out to enjoy
themselves.

Yeah.

Can't remember the day after.

I just know I went out
into the alley,

as we call it,

and the doctor had given me sleeping
tablets, and so I just wanted to go.

I did. I wanted to go.

Antoinette Keegan: They checked
all the hospitals

and eventually they found me in
Dr Steevens' hospital.

And they walked straight past me.

And then I'm like that,
(quietly) "Ma..."

trying to call me ma and me da,
and they can't hear me.

I have this thing on my face.

So then they went over and asked
the doctor where I was.

And then I knew when
I seen them coming

towards me by the expression
on their face, right,

that I was a horrible sight.

My hair now was burned, my face
was burned, it was black,

and all the things, the droppings
was all stuck on it.

My hands was in plastic gloves
with white cream all over them.

And then the doctor
called me ma and da over

and just whispered,
You do not tell her any bad news.

But just letting you know
it's 50/50 for her to survive.

Jimmy Fitzpatrick: Mam and dad were
going from hospital to hospital,

but the nuns were
frantic,

trying to give out their names
and getting confused.

They were looking for
James Fitzpatrick,

where everyone knew me
as Jimmy Fitzpatrick.

So when they brought my mam
and dad in to see me.

My mam said, "That's not Jimmy."
She couldn't recognise me.

I was swelled up. But they
bathed me eyes open.

And when I opened my eyes,
my mam goes, "That's him."

What a horrible thing for any
parent to have to go through.

News Archive: For the injured, too,
there was shock,

news of lost friends,

and a dawning realisation of their
own serious injuries.

The pavements were strewn with
injured bodies,

some beyond any hope,

some who would live to tell of
their nightmare.

(sirens)

Valerie Deasy: For a few days, they
didn't know where I was,

but they eventually found me,

and I was in a coma in
Jervis Street.

So I was alive.

So many of the other families
didn't have that bonus

of finding a family member and
actually finding them alive, so...

You're thinking, did we all
make it?

Did we all get out?

You know? And I wasn't
hearing any names.

And none of my friends
were coming to see me.

My dad, on the Tuesday, said,
I want to go down and see him.

Mam I said, I'd like
to see him as well.

I said, he's kinda bruised.

So I said, The undertaker said
to me for the best not to see him.

So dad then went... lost the plot.

I need to see my son dead.

So I said, No, you can't.
So I said, When we go down

to the undertaker's,
it's going to be closed, the coffin.

So down to the undertakers,
he lost the plot again.

Mam just silently sobbed and shook.

And there was really
nothing of Ryan there.

Mam and dad never knew that.

And there was nothing
went in the coffin.

No kid went in at all.

News Archive: Most of the victims
who died in the Stardust

were in their late teens.

We were in such grief
at the time that we

just went along with everything
they told us to do.

We were told that Caroline was
down in the funeral home,

and that she was coffined.

The coffins were all closed up.

We I hadn't got a choice.

They were all in a line.

I never forget, I can still see it.

So when we went down, actually,

we wouldn't open the coffin,
and they wouldn't open the coffin.

So after that then, we started to
make arrangements for the funeral.

News Archive: Most of the victims
of the fire

would be buried at the Sutton
Cemetery,

where many of the new graves are
just within yards of each other.

It was incredible the impact just
geographically.

So many of the victims came from

within a one-a-while radius of
the Stardust itself.

The concentration of death and
injury was absolutely incredible.

The grief was very overbearing
for people.

News Archive: Scenes of grief
seen earlier

at the funeral of Brian Hobbes
from Whitehall.

Hundreds of mourners had to stand

outside of the church because
of the size of the crowd inside.

Pat Dunne: People, because
it was the first funeral,

wanted to see what was going on.

Loads of press, loads
of photographers.

Some that got a little bit nasty
in the sense that

when the coffin was being taken out,
could you stand holding it?

Could people stand at it?

When we looked at the news,

it was happening to somebody else,

and the funeral, they say,
was definitely somebody else's.

People were there, and you look
at the families,

and cameras were on them.

They were focus of attention.

They just went through the motions.

I don't think they realised
what was actually happening.

Archive: There seems to be
something almost unnatural

about parents who bury their
children,

the young people who have
lost their lives...

...for others, they could
barely hold back their grief.

I think Jimmy got buried on the
Thursday.

There was about three or four
funerals on that day.

We knew a lot of people that died.

I didn't even know what I'd done
afterwards,

just talked to a few people.

I said, "What did we do after
Jimmy's funeral?"

They said you went to another one.

All week we were just going to
funerals like, you know?

Jaysus. Unbelievable, unbelievable.

News Archive: The small church
was full,

with many mourners having to stand
outside in the cold, bitter wind.

Charlie Bird: T'was a cold winter.

And just to see the agony and the
awfulness of the hearses

leaving the churches,
and the relatives.

It was just... it was horrendous.

News Archive: Many among them wept as
the coffins were being removed.

Two more victims were
also buried today.

What those families went through.

It was a nightmare.

News Archive: For one family, the
McDermotts,

three of their children - Willy,
Marcella, and George

- perished together in the fire.

The enormity of this loss has
devastated the McDermott household.

My mother doesn't remember
burying them.

And she always regrets that.

She always said she felt
that they didn't

give her time to be in that moment
for them,

at the funeral, because everything
was taken over.

When we went to the funeral for
Jim McDermott's children,

we were all in uniform.

Jim was an experienced firefighter,

and he understood what was
involved for each of his children.

He knew too much.

We just offered as much support as
you possibly could,

but you feel that that's a minimum
contribution that you can make.

That's all.

My mother and father wanted all
Marcella's friends

to carry her coffin, and they
all turned up all spruced up.

God loved them, immaculate.

But my mother told them to go home
and change into all their

Doc Martens because they were
all skinheads.

So they all came back in their
Crombie coats, Doc Martens.

News Archive: All three are buried
in the same grave.

Their suffering goes on... Hundreds
of reeds were placed on the graves.

At the graveside, local
parish priest...

My mother and father was
visiting me every day.

And like I was saying, "Mary and
Martina, where are they?"

My ma... they used to always say,
"Mary's okay. She's grand.

She's in the Mater Hospital, and
Martina is in the Meath Hospital."

I wasn't allowed a newspaper,
a television, a radio.

News Archive: As the fire raged,
young people rushed for the exits,

stumbling over each other
in panic and confusion.

In the frantic search for
friends and relatives...

I had to wake up most
mornings,

they had to less sedate me every day
because your lungs

would be affected from the
anaesthetic.

So every time they less sedate me,

the pain was more because
they're now taking bandages,

not off your skin,

but it's all for your veins and
your nerves and your muscle.

So you're looking at your hands
and arms without any skin.

Like that's traumatic. You know?

I do remember at one stage,

opening my eyes and it was
a priest giving me the last rites.

And then I was aware
of being moved on a trolley.

So I was put up into intensive care.

(wheels rolling)

They slit all my arms first because
the arms had all swelled all out,

and they were going to burst.

And then that was it.

I ended up in a coma for 10 days.

So no knowledge of the destruction
that had happened in the Stardust.

I didn't know whether
my sister was alive or dead.

This particular day, a priest came
in and he goes, "What's your name?"

"Oh, that's right," he said.

Your two sisters were killed.

And I went, "No, they weren't.

They weren't." Right?

And I went in to hysterics, crying.

I just couldn't believe it.

News Archive: This funeral, perhaps
as much as any of them,

summed up the horror of Stardust.

Four friends attended the disco,

only one survived, and she's
still in hospital.

So when me ma and da came in,
I said to me ma, "Is it true?"

She said, "It is, Antoinette.
I'm sorry."

And I said, "Why didn't yous tell
me?

Why did yiz tell me a lie?"

She said, "We had no choice.

We had to tell you a lie
to keep it alive."

News Archive: But in the one square
mile around Artane and Coolock,

this agonising procession
was repeated 17 times today

to five different cemeteries.

Those who now mourn...
In an emotional and moving scene,

the coffins were placed in graves
alongside one another...

In the case of five victims, they
were never able to be formally

identified at the time due
to the extent of the injuries.

And they were buried in St.
Fintan's Cemetery.

News Archive: Relatives and friends
of those still missing

stood around the long
line of open graves in silence.

The Auxiliary bishops of Dublin, Dr.
James Kavanagh

and Dermot O'Mahony
officiated at the graveside.

I remembered the headline,
Oh Jesus, Why?

And I think it encapsulated
everything

because it was too early to point
a finger, to ask questions.

What happened?

But at the same time, that headline
did ask the question, why?

Charlie Bird Archive: This is one of
the exit signs

over one of the emergency outlets
at the side of the building

where some of the dead and
injured were found.

The experts have been closely
examining this door

and others like it.

Were all the emergency exits open
at the time of the fire?

These and other questions will have
to be answered.

All the doors have chains on them,

and the chains are hanging on
the doors open.

When the chains are taken
off the doors,

when we open at night time,
they're hanging on one side.

So the chains and the locks
cannot be mixed up,

but they're not
actually locking the door.

The door can be pushed open.

Many people seem to have been
trapped in the toilets area.

Was there an exit near
the toilets area?

Yeah, there was an exit
near the toilets area.

You're sure it was open?

I'm positive it was open, yeah.

One of the staff had said that
he'd gone around

and unlocked all the exits before
the fire had happened.

And he said that on television,
I think it was Today Tonight.

And I went around at
about 9:20

and I opened up each
and every one of them.

Each one with a separate key?

Each one with a separate key, yeah.

And when I finished opening them,

I went and I just put the keys
back in the drawer

in the in the pay office in the
Stardust.

A number of days later, he
retracted that statement,

and he admitted that that
was not the case,

and it was something
that was heavily criticised.

What else did you notice
around the exit?

There was tables up against one
of the exits,

but he pushed them out
of the way,

and tried to open it with the...

He was pushing it and
wouldn't open.

He mustn't have had any
keys on him

because it was a lock and chains
around it.

Harriet Reilly remembers fleeing to
exit number 4.

Red Skelton, an experienced fire
engineer,

examined that same door for us.

If you study the face of this
door,

it is carbonised over
its full length.

It's quite heavy char.

In fact, the inside inside skin is
burned right through,

but on the edge, it's quite clean.

This would seem to indicate
that this door was closed.

Again, we have the char-free
door frame

and inside edge of the door,
indicating that it was closed.

But in this instance, the leaf
of the door is untouched by fire,

except for some small
swelling of the paint.

It would seem to indicate that the
door was protected

from the fire by some
solid object, possibly seating.

Of the many escape routes
leading all the force...

Ken Curran: All of the interviews
with witnesses

pointed to the doors being locked.

They were trapped.

Windows were barred.

And that became a common theme

from all reporters' accounts of what
happened there.

No amount of force could free them.

So the focus shifted
from the actual fire

and the aftermath of that
to why did this happen?

Who is responsible for this?

Dublin Corporation were pretty
quick out of the traps

in denying any responsibility
for it, as were the Butterlys.

News Archive: The owner of the
Stardust Club, Eamon Butterly,

was adamant he wasn't to blame.

My conscience is clear

in so far that I have done
everything possible

from the day that place opened
to make as safe as possible.

The fire escapes are there.

Are you yourself, in your own mind,

ruling out the question of it being
malicious?

No.
You think it's possible?

Very possible.

Have you anything harder
to go on than that?

No.

We'll have to make sure,
first of all,

that this particular fire, tragedy,

is thoroughly and completely
and fully investigated.

Charlie Haughey, within hours of
the fire,

he had announced that there
would be a tribunal

of inquiry and that there would be
action.

So he acted quite promptly in terms
of

setting up the tribunal after
the fire.

There will be a high court judge
presiding over the tribunal.

They'll have full powers to summon
witnesses

and command of attendance and
demand answers? Yes.

Everything, yes.

The tribunal of inquiry,

it was organised very, very quickly,

and people drew some comfort
from that,

that there would be answers
and hopefully accountability.

Justice Ronan Keen was
a high Court Judge.

He later became Chief Justice,

and he was appointed by the
government to head up the tribunal.

Mr. Justice Ronan Keen
was a highly respected judge.

His wife was the diarist
Terry Keane,

and she was having an affair with
Charles Haughey at that time.

Justice Keane was a highly
respected judge,

and I don't think there was any
doubt

on his credentials or his
qualifications for the job.

Pat Dunne: Because it was set up
so quick and because

who was set up by, he was doing
everything and it was great.

And he would get to the bottom
of it and that would be fine.

And there was proper barristers
and whatever it may be,

and they would handle it all and
tell us

what had happened at the end.

News Archive: How wide will the terms
of reference be?

Will it relate only to the causes
of this particular fire?

It will relate only to the causes
of this particular fire,

but then also have power
to make recommendations.

It was pushed through by
Charlie Haughey immediately.

This is great.

He's gung ho.

He's going to get this sorted
out.

We're going to get truth
and justice.

The Stardust Tribunal first
sat just a number of weeks

after the tragedy in 1981,

and it ran between March
and November of that year

and interviewed hundreds of
witnesses and experts.

Me mother and father
was there every day.

Every single day, every single day.

I wouldn't go.

I didn't want to know
anything about it.

They had a big map on the stands
of the Stardust,

and to be honest with you,

you couldn't make head nor tail
of the map.

They were asking us around
the areas where the fire started.

Did you see anybody there?

They also had a red PVC chair,

and they asked us, did we
see any damage done to the chair?

Was there anyone vandalising
the chairs that night?

Did we see any rips in the chairs?

Did we see anybody
hanging around messing.

News Archive: The Stardust inquiry
goes into its 89th day tomorrow.

We didn't go to that
tribunal, we kept away.

We just blocked it out of our head.

It was a form of escapism,
if you like.

Jimmy Fitzpatrick: Well, I
particularly wanted to be there

because I wanted to see Eamon
Butterly's face

while I wheeled in in a wheelchair

because I actually wanted him
to see

the damage that was caused to the
people that survived

and the people that died.

News Archive: The Stardust Tribunal
completed its 118th

day of hearing evidence about
the disaster.

One of the key witnesses
was Martin Donoghue.

He was the Inspector of Public
Resorts for Dublin Corporation.

It was not his role to judge whether

a fire exit was safe or
any fire regulations.

His role was to check the electrical
installations of a premises.

But he had visited the Stardust
on numerous occasions,

and he had raised numerous issues
with the Butterlys.

He had noticed fire exits blocked.

At one stage, he'd noticed
a fire exit was locked.

He had been at one event
a month before,

and he was very concerned
at the overcrowding at the venue.

He found it very difficult to
move through.

Dublin Corporation raised all these
issues in a letter to the Butterlys.

And Eamon Butterlys' response was

that he personally took great
care to make sure

that the exits are clear when
the public were on the premises.

News Archive: The public hearings
of the Stardust Tribunal have ended.

The inquiry was set up
to investigate

the Saint Valentine disco
fire in which 48 people died.

It's reckoned to have been the
longest tribunal

in Britain or Ireland, 122 days
with over 300 witnesses

who give evidence totaling three....

The Stardust Relatives Committee have
been giving

their considered reaction
to the tribunal report

at a news conference in Dublin
this morning.

The report was damning in its
assessment

of Eamon Butterly's role on the
night.

Mr. Butterly has again He was
accused to be

interviewed on the question
of the tribunal's findings.

It says that Eamon Butterly did
not cooperate fully with the Gardaí.

Eamon Butterly was accused of
showing reckless disregard

for the safety of the patrons by
standing over

a policy where exits were
locked at the Stardust

until at least midnight when the
public were on the premises.

It found that on the
night of the fire,

one exit was chained and locked
at the time of the fire.

Some of the exits,

there were chains draped over the
panic bar that you press to get out.

That gave the impression
that they were locked.

Earlier at their news conference,

the relatives committee illustrated
how they say

the report but showed that a chain
on an unlocked door

effectively prevented it being
opened.

Some of the exits were very,
very badly obstructed.

Even outside,

people encountered a van parked
directly outside one of the exits.

There was also a skip
blocking an exit.

Another criticism was the building
materials

that went into it were in breach
of building bylaws.

For example, he used carpet
tiles on the walls,

which were highly flammable

and was a major factor to the
spread of the fire.

The carpet tiles were not intended
to be used for wall coverings.

The report found there
was insufficient

training given to staff

in how to deal with an emergency.

A few weeks before the fire,

the Butterlys had installed

steel bars and steel plates
on the windows

of the toilets to prevent people

from passing through alcohol
to their friends.

One of the most shocking aspects in
the tribunal report

was in determining the cause
of the fire,

the report said it was probable
arson.

That was devastating for the
families

because by saying that the fire was
probable arson,

put the blame directly back
onto the community

that had suffered and exonerated
the Butterlys

and Dublin Corporation and the State

of any real responsibility for
what happened.

The finding of probable arson was
awful, absolutely awful.

It made people think
then that, who did this?

It caused awful bad blood on the
north side of town

that somebody, maybe in
your estate,

on your road, had done this.

So the blame was apportioned
in the wrong direction.

And a lot of people were regular
ordinary people

that accepted what they had found
initially because they were experts,

you see, we weren't.

They were actually blaming
everybody

that was in that building that
night.

People that were killed
or people that survived.

Jimmy Fitzpatrick: It was a mockery
to the victims and their families.

To have a case saying
probable arson.

You can't say probable arson.

It's either arson or it isn't.

Maurice McHugh: What we got was our
children were criminalised

as arsonists. Unbelievable.

You couldn't make it up.

Tony McCullagh: It said probable
arson,

and it did say the cause of the fire

is not known and may never
be known.

It would have been better had
the report just come out

and said, We will never know the
cause of the fire.

We haven't seen any evidence
showing arson or equally,

we have no evidence to show
that it was an electrical fault.

But to come down and say something
that...

would really rankle with the
families for years

to suggest somebody in there that
night had maliciously

started a fire was an extraordinary
inference to make.

I I don't believe that the guards

ever believed that the fire was
caused by arson.

And I understand that the finding of
the tribunal of probable arson

was greeted by surprise by a
number of guards at the time.

So how come that they
came to the conclusion

this was started deliberately?

Or did it fit a narrative
at the time?

These people are living
in a working class area.

A lot of them are unemployed.

You know, what else would they do?

It suited perhaps the
agenda at the time.

Let's get this over and done with.

Now let's move on.

There's more important things
that we have to focus on.

The report was highly critical of
the State and the local authority,

in this case Dublin Corporation,

because the fire prevention
department

in Dublin Corporation was hopelessly
under resourced and understaffed.

These were all criticisms in terms
of the State

and the local authority's
responsibility where that lay.

The morale in Dublin Fire Brigade,
notwithstanding the individual

acts of heroism on the night,
was considered to be extremely low.

The lack of breathing apparatus was
a major problem.

The breathing apparatus, there was
two sets on every car.

There were six men on the car.

Your hands were burnt, and you
had to handle body parts.

There were no gloves at that stage.

Tony McCullagh: The families felt
that because the tribunal

was so damning in its criticism,
that it opened the possibility

that the DPP would bring
a prosecution for manslaughter.

But that didn't happen.

The DPP decided that there were
insufficient grounds

to bring charges against
anybody

in terms of the deaths
of the people that night.

And that was a devastating finding.

They felt that nobody had been held

responsible for the loss
of their children.

Jimmy Fitzpatrick: The finding of
probable arson left the Butterlys

with the open opportunity
to sue Dublin City Council.

Tony McCullagh: The Butterlys
were very encouraged by remarks

that the fire was probably arson

because it bolstered their legal
action that they were taking.

They were suing Dublin Corporation
for malicious damages.

And when it went to court in 1983,

they were looking for something
between £3 and £4 million.

But significantly, the court at
that time went one step

further by determining that
the fire actually was arson.

So it went from being probable arson
to definitely arson,

and it allowed the butter lease to
receive

almost £600,000 in compensation.

And this was years before any
of the families

had received a penny or would
receive a penny.

News Archive: Judge O'Hanrahan
said as a matter of principle,

he would award the lower figure
of £600,000 for reinstatement.

He wanted to save the ratepayers
money.

Mr. Kinlan said a new
claim of 30,000...

Selina McDermott: All these
families, 48 dead kids,

the survivors that were still in
hospital.

And then you had people that
weren't in hospital but were

mentally disturbed by what
they had gone through.

And he wins the case, £600,000.

I mean...

News Archive: Lawyers appearing
before the tribunal

were paid a staggering £463,500
in fees.

The Butterlys won an
award of £581,000,

but still, the real victims
wait for some recompense.

The families were taking legal cases

against the State and against the
owners of the Stardust,

but the cases faced being
tied up in the courts for years.

The government of the
day stepped in

and announced that there would
be a compensation tribunal.

Those who took a case through
the compensation tribunal,

they had to discontinue

any legal actions against the
Butterlys or the State.

News Archive: The tribunal will offer
cash awards

to any the 300 claimants who
wish to apply.

If applicants decide to accept
the tribunal's offer,

they must call off any other
court proceedings.

At a compensation tribunal,

people applied for compensation
for a range of things,

from very serious injuries
to the death

of a relative.

For psychological
trauma.

When you're in front of the panel,

there was a judge and then
two barristers on either side.

You were told to strip
off to show your scars.

That was degrading,

really degrading, that you had to
stand

in front of three men
to show them your injuries.

Phyllis Campbell: And they decided,
we'll give you X amount.

But you were told, you don't
speak about this again.

It's like they were giving you a
sum of money

and you were giving them
your voice.

They were the people
that were up there.

And you were the mere
peasant from Coolock.

Jimmy Fitzpatrick: Yes, I have burns
in my arms and hands and shoulders.

And some of these are tendons that
are burned out,

so I'm never going to get
the flexibility

or I'm never going to get knuckles
back on them.

But both of my legs, front and back,
were donor the areas

where they took the skin off to put
on me arms and hands..

So you had to strip basically
to your underpants.

You just felt like a piece of meat.

It was horrible.

And what they gave you was peanuts.

Errol Buckley: You were told not
to tell anybody.

I can't even tell you.

We were sort of like sworn to,
don't tell anyone.

Or it'll be taken off ya, just
like that.

And today, I don't know if I can
still even tell you how much I got.

Tony McCullagh: The families were
awarded £5,000

for the loss of a child, which was
later increased to £7,500.

Selina McDermott: They were offered
£5,000 for each child.

My mother was saying, If we take it,
we can't go to court.

Then my father was saying,

if we fight ourselves with no
money to fight.

It caused an awful lot of
problems in the house.

And an awful lot of arguing,
fighting.

They were so much in debt
as it was

because of the funerals
and everything.

And my father then not in work.

It was very, very messy.

Phyllis McHugh: We got 7 and
a half grand.

That's what their compensation was.

7 and a half, pounds.

Punts, yeah.
Punts, wherever they were.

It was unbelievable.

I mean, I couldn't...

You just couldn't believe it.

Mam didn't take it,
in the beginning.

She said, One day, should I take it?

And Peter said, yeah, you need
central heating

and you need new windows.

And the two of ye can't afford it.

So we said, just go and take it.

And you can always say, Brian's
money was comforting in that sense.

So she took it afterwards.

So for his life, there was 7,500.

They always had that sense
of guilt that

I was alive, and these
people were all dead.

Every so often, mam would say to me,
Do you think he's somewhere?

Do you think he could be
in London or something?

No, he's not.

Antoinette Keegan: I would drink
all night and sleep all day.

That's why I just had
to get out of country.

It was our view that an inquest
could be used

to establish the truth.

He said, The attorney general has
to order the inquest to be opened.

Brilliant, brilliant.

Many know that this is
the last gasp saloon.

Hopefully this inquest will give
us justice and we get the truth.

If you got truth,
at least it will be something.

That's all we want, the truth we
don't want anything else.

Pat Dunne: I need to know why,
and I want justice ordered.

Selina McDermott: That it would be
unlawful killing.

That's what we hope,
because that's what it was.

The evidence speaks for itself.

And if the jury do establish
the truth,

justice will be done
for these families.

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