Families of victims and survivors of the Stardust disaster have been offered a formal state apology.
Taoiseach, Simon Harris read small pen portraits of each of the 48 people who went to a dance and never came home in 1981.
Among them he acknowledged by request of the families, a 49th victim, the unborn baby of Caroline Carey.
“A talented Irish dancer, who took up disco dancing, a Dublin City Council clerical worker who recently found out she was to be a mother. Her family asked me to tell the house today, this baby was the 49th victim of the Stardust tragedy.”
Simon Harris described the sense panic and desperation that the families must have experienced, as they learned what happened.
He noted the pain of having to identify their bodies by the jewellery they were wearing.
“Being accused of telling lies, the smear of arson attached to their loved ones, having their grief and sadness misconstrued as madness, a sense of threat and suppression when they simply started looking for answers,” he said.
“Stigma heaped upon sorrow breed shame and silence.”
In full: the State apology delivered to the families of the 48 Stardust victims, by Taoiseach Simon Harris in Dáil Éireann. @virginmedianews pic.twitter.com/TgWqV5hv1K
— Gavan Reilly (@gavreilly) April 23, 2024
“The institutions of the State let you down.
“These brave families should never have had to walk alone. We should have been by your side, walking with you. We were not. And for that we are truly sorry.”
