Stardust fire survivor Antionette Keegan tells Joe Humphreys why she is taking up the fight for justice
It took 20 years for Antionette Keegan to talk about the Stardust disaster, which claimed the lives of two of her sisters, and left her physically and emotionally scarred.
"To this day, I still feel guilty because I got out and they didn't," says the Dublin woman, who was so badly burnt in the inferno that her parents recognised her in hospital afterwards only by the braces on her teeth.
"For years I couldn't talk about it because the memories were so painful. But I'm speaking up now for my father, who went to his grave knowing that no one had been held responsible."
John Keegan died in December 1986, two days after the Supreme Court rejected his claim for "nervous shock" arising from the death of his daughters, Mary and Martina, in the 1981 St Valentine's Day disco fire. As chairman of the Stardust Victims' Committee, he had taken the case to highlight the State's indifference towards the victims and their families who felt aggrieved that no one had been held accountable for the worst fire disaster in the history of the State.
"He never wanted compensation. He only wanted to know why his two girls died along with the other 46," says Keegan, who this week emerged as spokeswoman for the reformed victims' committee. "I always remember him saying, 'It's a working class area. Who is going to miss 48 kids from Coolock?' He felt we would never get justice."
Keegan is today trying to prove him wrong through the Stardust Legal Challenge Committee. With the help of solicitor Greg O'Neill, who represented families seeking justice for the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, the group is seeking to reopen the investigation into the Stardust disaster.
A tribunal of inquiry set up after the fire cited a number of irregularities at the nightclub, including padlocked doors and exits. But, it said, arson was the probable cause of the blaze, and, as a result, the club owners not only went unpunished but received £600,000 (€761,000) in malicious damages compensation from the State.
The Department of Justice told The Irish Times yesterday it would "carefully examine" any new evidence on the matter. But Keegan says: "When this anniversary is over the Government will ignore us again."
CONTINUING STATE INDIFFERENCE to the victims' plight is not the only thing that caused offence this week. News that RTÉ was planning to broadcast a drama series depicting the events leading up to the disaster and its aftermath opened yet another wound.
For many survivors and their families, the first they heard of the project - timed to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the disaster next month - was in advance publicity circulated to the media.
Jimmy Fitzpatrick, who rescued two friends from the blaze but not without suffering life-threatening injuries, says RTÉ had never contacted him about the drama, in which his "part" was being played by George McMahon (Mondo from Fair City).
Fitzpatrick told RTÉ Radio 1's Liveline on Thursday that the public broadcaster had caused a lot of people "hurt and upset", adding that the "secrecy" surrounding the series was inappropriate.
Even Liveline presenter Joe Duffy weighed in against his employers, describing as "inadequate" a statement from RTÉ defending its stance. RTÉ Television's director of programmes Claire Duignan eventually went on the show yesterday to express regret for the distress caused.
Keegan says she "felt weak" when she opened a newspaper and saw a picture of the actress who was playing her sister Mary. Of the two-part series, due to be broadcast around February 13th, she says she was glad RTÉ had now offered families a chance to view it in advance. But, she says, "I really don't know if I can face it." The series, which is based on They Never Came Home, a book by journalists Tony McCullagh and Neal Fetherstonhaugh, was commissioned last July, and is currently in post-production.
RTÉ says it made "genuine efforts" to contact the victims' families, and wrote to what it believed was their "official representative body" in August. It says the following month it realised the legal challenge committee in fact represented the majority of relatives, and as a result it subsequently met the group.
Duignan said yesterday the series was "very difficult viewing". But she believed it would have the same effect in provoking debate as had No Tears (the hepatitis C scandal) and Omagh.
Notwithstanding RTÉ's intentions, the victims and their families feel they have good reason to be so sensitive. Survivors received no counselling following the tragedy, and renewed efforts to rectify the situation have been ignored. The Department of Health said yesterday it was a matter for the Health Service Executive, which confirmed there were no special counselling arrangements in place.
Keegan is reminded of the State's hypocrisy each day as she walks past the memorial fountain that was erected in memory of the victims in Coolock. "It is never working," she says. "The Corpo are out there cleaning it now because the anniversary is coming up but they'll let it run down again as soon as the anniversary is over."
The Stardust Legal Challenge Committee is seeking to raise €20,000 to fund medical and technical reports, as well as legal services, aimed at reopening the inquiry into the disaster. Donations can be made to: Ulster Bank, Coolock; sort code: 98-50-15; account number 74371027