Game of Thrones actor Liam Cunningham, whose sister was injured in the tragic Stardust fire on Valentine’s night 1981, says the trauma of the ‘warzone’ Mater hospital that night is something he’ll never forget.
It has been 39 years since 48 young people were tragically killed in the horrific inferno which also left 214 people injured after more than 400 people attended a disco at the popular Artane nightclub.
Around 500 people gathered at the site of the Stardust tragedy last night where the names of those who died were read out.
Cunningham recalled trying to find his sister at the Mater Hospital and said their emergency department was similar to a “warzone”.
He said: “I hopped on my bike and went straight to the Mater.
“It was chaos. There were obviously people arriving every few minutes, it was like a warzone.
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“I remember the hair going up on the back of my neck. There was a chap walking into the room, into the emergency department and the skin on his hands was hanging off his fingers.”
Justice for Stardust also shared a heartbreaking video on Twitter with pictures and names of those who died that night.
It said: “14th Feb 1981 a Valentines night, when we lost 48 hearts through greed, which left behind many broken hearts across Ireland.”
The families of the victims of the disaster vowed that they are “going nowhere” until they finally get justice for their loved ones.
Attorney General Seamus Woulfe announced in September that he was ordering a fresh inquest into the tragedy because the original inquest failed to “sufficiently consider those of the surrounding circumstances that concern the cause or causes of the fire”.
Antoinette Keegan, who lost her sisters Martina and Mary in the fire, said the announcement of the new inquiry was a “victory” for the victims.
Tearfully addressing a press conference at Buswell’s Hotel, she said: “My father set up the Stardust Truth and Justice Committee in 1985 and he fought until his deathbed for justice for the living and the dead.
“I think today is a victory for the dead. The 48 that perished. They have helped us, they have been guiding us, they have walked every step that we walked.
“They helped us to get where we are today and we will keep fighting for the 48. They deserve justice and they deserve truth.”
A tribunal held in 1982 and chaired by Justice Ronan Keane found the cause of the fire was “probably arson”.
The families disputed disputed this conclusion and in 2009, an independent examination into the tribunal found there was no evidence to support Justice Keane’s conclusion.
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In 2017, a report from retired Judge Pat McCartan found no new inquiry into the fire was warranted.
