Independent TD Finian McGrath has welcomed the Government's decision at its final Cabinet meeting yesterday to advance €100,000 to relatives of the victims of the 1981 Stardust fire to defray the costs of a fresh evaluation of the evidence on the disaster, which claimed 48 lives.
"It is something I have been pushing very, very strongly for the last week," Mr McGrath told The Irish Times. "The Stardust families are a part of my current talks with the Government, but I don't want to breach confidentiality."
He added: "I welcome the allocation of the €100,000 to the families and I look forward to the other €300,000 coming on stream soon." Mr McGrath represents the Dublin North Central constituency where many of the victims' relatives are living.
Last April, John Gallagher SC was appointed by the Government to assess the case for a new inquiry and a sum of "up to €400,000" was agreed, to cover legal representation of the families in the examination process and to meet the expenses of the technical and lay witnesses that might appear.
The €100,000 advance is the first instalment of this €400,000. "The families do not feel they can progress their side of things without some funding," according to Government sources yesterday.
The families have never accepted the findings of the original inquiry chaired by former Chief Justice Ronan Keane that the fire was probably started deliberately by persons unknown.
A final report on whether a fresh inquiry should be held into the causes of the Stardust tragedy, which killed 48 young people in 1981, is now expected in October.
Greg O'Neill, solicitor for the families, told The Irish Times he expected to formally meet Mr Gallagher"in the coming days".
Mr O'Neill said it was "great" that they could now contact their expert witnesses, including a pathologist and a fire expert, that they had booked to give evidence since April.
"We can start the process. It is no longer aspirational," said Mr O'Neill. "The families had been getting very frustrated. We had these experts booked for June. June is now gone effectively, though I hope we can do some of this in June and in July.
"Nothing will be done in August so I would expect the final report in October," added Mr O'Neill.
Five of the victims, who had been so badly burnt that they could not be identified at the time, were reburied in individual plots following family funerals in recent weeks.
The bodies of Richard Bennett, Michael Ffrench, Murtagh (Murt) Kavanagh, Éamon Loughman and Paul Wade had been buried side-by-side in a common plot in St Fintan's Cemetery, Sutton, north Dublin.
They were exhumed in February and identified using DNA samples.
Antoinette Keegan, spokeswoman for the families and a sister of two of the victims, said the families could "now get on with things".
"We are pleased and relieved. Hopefully now we can at long last begin to make progress."