Relatives of those killed in the Stardust disaster are picketing Government Buildings today, seeking a new inquiry into the fire that killed 48 people in 1981.
Eugene Kelly (right) and Antoinette Keegan protest outside Government Buildings in Dublin.
The Stardust Victims Committee said it wants the new investigation established so the truth surrounding the cause of the blaze can be made public. They maintain the fire could have been prevented and want someone made accountable.
Antoinette Keegan, whose two sisters died in the fire, told ireland.comthis afternoon that Dublin North Central TD Seán Haughey, had come out of Leinster House to speak to her group and voiced his support for the campaign. However, a spokeswoman for Mr Haughey said he denied Ms Keegan's claim that he had "given indications" the Taoiseach would sanction a new inquiry.
Mr Haughey later contacted ireland.comto clarify his position and said he was fully supportive of the Committee. "The government is assessing and evaluating new evidence and will shortly make a decision on a new enquiry," said Mr Haughey.
Mr Ahern told the Dáil this morning the protests "will not help one bit" in their battle.
In total, 48 young people were perished as flames engulfed the nightclub in Artane, north Dublin, on St Valentine's Day in 1981. In all, 25 men and 23 women died, 214 were injured, 11 badly disfigured or disabled. The average age of the dead was 19.
Mr Ahern yesterday agreed that the bodies of five unidentified victims will be exhumed, formally identified, and reburied with all costs covered by the Department of Justice. However, he said it will be another three weeks before a final decision is made on an new inquiry.
The five - Murtagh Kavanagh, Richard Bennett, Michael Ffrench, Eamon Loughman and Paul Wade - are currently buried in an unmarked plot in St Fintan's Cemetery, Sutton, north Dublin.
It is hoped that the Coroner could order the exhumations at a formal hearing before Christmas, and that the bodies could be formally identified before the 26th anniversary of the fatal blaze in February.
The families believe an independent forensic report they commissioned proves the blaze started in the roof space of the club, and not deliberately in a ground-floor alcove as suggested in a previous report.
A 1981 tribunal chaired by Mr Justice Ronan Keane found after 122 days that although the cause of the fire was not known, and may never be known, it was probably caused deliberately, the most likely mechanism being the slashing of some of the seats with a knife and the application of a lighted match or cigarette lighter to the exposed foam, or the ignition of newspapers on or under the seats.
The Taoiseach said yesterday the new evidence is being examined by technical experts and he expects a response in a matter of weeks.
This morning, Mr Ahern told the Dáil protests by the families "will not help one bit" in their battle for a public inquiry.
"They have protested at my office. They have protested outside the Dail. They believe all these things will bring on the issue," he said. "My advice, quite frankly, is that this will not help one bit. I will help to the best of my ability in every way I can."
Replying to questions by Labour leader Pat Rabbitte, Mr Ahern said he knew many of the victims' families personally, had lived in Artane, north Dublin, at the time and had been an on-call administrator at the Mater Hospital on the night of the tragedy.
Mr Rabbitte described the fire as an unimaginable horror for a working-class community. "They believe that if they had some of the great and the good in their midst, if they were assisted by some of the professional classes, they wouldn't have been ignored for the past 25 years."
Mr Rabbitte said that some peace of mind should be given to the victims' families. "As far as I'm concerned, this was an act of corporate manslaughter. If there was ever a definition of corporate manslaughter, this is it. People crowded into an unsafe place with the doors padlocked and combustible materials in the attic."