Stardust and State Apology

[JoeRoberts]

It's not clear to me what the State are being asked to apologise for, or what the State is supposed to have done wrong.
I think the Govt are also struggling with this but are in a corner to issue something.

 

[odyssey06]

The State failed to investigate the fire properly first time around, seems to be the general consensus.
The verdict delivered recently, should have been delivered 40 years ago & had it been done then more timely \ appropriate consequences could have been enforced on those culpable. Hard to say more as I expect further court cases.

 

[odyssey06]

The Journal gives more context:
In the initial tribunal of inquiry in 1981, the cause of the fire was deemed to be unknown but that it was likely to have been started deliberately.
This presumption was heavily disputed but it was not until 2009 that a tribunal rejected it and had the finding of arson struck from the public record.
Last week, Tánaiste Micheál Martin accepted that the arson ruling had caused the families “enormous anxiety” and said the Government must now do what is right by the families.

Families of Stardust victims to attend Dáil today for long-awaited State apology

The Taoiseach will make the apology today in the Dáil at 2pm.

www.thejournal.ie

 

[thedaddyman]

It goes back to the first enquiry which ruled it was arson, that seemed to let the owners "off the hook" so to speak. There was the battle to get that overturned and the latest enquiry held. It's the time delay and the battle to get to where they are today, the failure of the state authorities to listen and respond and from what I've read, to be downright dismissive at times.

 

[Dr Strangelove]

I'm very sympathetic to the victims. But the report doesn't change much. The cause of fire (accidental or deliberate) is kind of irrelevant. The deliberate blocking of multiple escape routes by management was clear at the time and uncontested today. This was the massive injustice, not the implication that one of the nearly thousand people in attendance that night started the fire on purpose.

The Taoiseach has basically agreed to a redress scheme despite there having been 426 payouts to victims and their families in 1986 amounting to £10m, or about £23,000 each. That would have bought a house in Coolock at the time.

Nothing can compensate for the loss of a loved one but a double dip into public funds four decades later doesn't seem right to me.