The Stardust disco fire, in which 48 young people perished in 1981, was "corporate manslaughter", according to Labour leader Pat Rabbitte, who also claimed that the relatives of the victims had been ignored because they were from a working-class community.
As the families protested outside Government Buildings yesterday calling for a full public inquiry, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said that he would do anything he could to help the relatives.
There was, however, no new information, but he had asked senior officials to examine the submission the families had made at a meeting in September "as fully and comprehensively as possible".
It was "not within my competence or that of my department to make the technical, engineering and forensic analysis of this. It is a complex evaluation". But as soon as he got their report and judgment, he would act on it. Mr Ahern added that the families protesting "believe that such actions highlight the issue. My advice is that it will not help one bit."
Mr Rabbitte called for a senior counsel to be appointed with the assistance of an expert to assess the submission made by the families and other materials to establish whether there was a basis for a fuller public investigation.
"It comes down to a net point - was the fire arson or accident?" he said. Mr Rabbitte said that the tribunal "misdirected itself to a crucial fact relating to the layout and design of the premises" and he claimed that the owners of the disco "were left for a number of days in control of the premises before the forensic investigation took place". The finding of arson "enabled the owners of these premises to get millions in damages from the State and the taxpayer". He added: "If ever there is a definition of corporate manslaughter, this is it, with people crowded in unconscionable numbers into an unsafe space with the doors padlocked and combustible materials in the attic."
The Labour leader said that the families "believe, as I do, that if they had some of the great and the good in their midst, and if they were assisted by some of the professional classes, they would not have been ignored for 25 years in the manner in which they have been ignored".
Mr Ahern said he met the relatives in the early part of the summer but they did not have their evidence available and he again met them in September when they gave him their submission. This was "an independent evaluation of the evaluation that was done for the independent inquiry - not new information".
He said that a full sworn inquiry into this matter had taken place and a comprehensive system designed to help the families involved was established. With the passage of time new issues arose particularly in respect of DNA, a matter with which we have since dealt.
The bodies of five unidentified victims are to be exhumed and Garda efforts would be assisted by specialist analytical input from the UK. "We could not have done that in the past - so it is not a criticism - because it is only in modern times that the DNA would have helped in this," Mr Ahern said. "I have spoken to the relatives and understand the hurt they have suffered for 25 years. When the competent authorities provide me with an answer, I will gladly supply it."
Later Labour TD Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East), who has raised the issue a number of times in the Dáil, claimed the Government had "stonewalled" the relatives and that two years ago another report had "rejected the critical conclusions of the original Stardust tribunal report".
