Cabinet to sign off on €24 million redress scheme for Stardust families

A meeting will be held this afternoon by the cabinet to sign off on a €24 million redress scheme for families of the victims of the Stardust Tragedy.

The scheme follows the verdict reached by the Stardust Inquiry in April, and was agreed on by the members of the campaign.

Following a 40-year long campaign for justice, the Inquiry found that the victims had been killed unlawfully, contrasting the original inquest’s findings.

Struck from the record in 2009, the 1982 Keane Tribunal found that the fire was caused deliberately, a verdict that was strongly contested in a campaign by the families.

Official State Apology for the Stardust Fire at the Dáil, 23 April 2024. Copyright Bailey Shropshire/hotpress.com

However, the April verdict concluded that it had started as a result of an electrical fault in the hotpress of the Artane Nightclub, located in the main bar.

Taoiseach Simon Harris delivered a state apology in April, and is expected to meet with Minister for Justice Helen McEntee later this evening to approve the package.

The Taoiseach delivered a state apology in April, as well as apologising in a meeting with the families. A commemoration ceremony was also held at the Garden of Remembrance on June 23.