A COMPLAINT to the Irish Human Rights Commission alleging ill-treatment at the hands of the State has been filed by the Stardust Victims Committee.
The committee has also called for the Government to allow damages for families of the 25 men and 23 women killed in the Stardust nightclub fire, along with a further 11 others who were badly disfigured or disabled, and 214 people classed as injured.
Committee spokeswoman Antoinette Keegan, who lost two sisters in the St Valentine’s Day fire in 1981, said the handling of the tragedy by the Government was abusive to the families.
She said that following the report of the independent examination conducted by Paul Coffey SC, the Oireachtas had accepted arson was not the cause of the fire.
However, she said the time it has taken to correct the record had been annoying, hurtful and a breach of the rights of the families.
Ms Keegan said it should not have taken 28 years to get this far in investigating the cause of the fire and the families of the victims were denied their rights and treated abusively.
She said the committee contended they were entitled to compensation for the abusive processes.
Ms Keegan also said she believes the original tribunal of inquiry was an obstruction in their search for justice as it prevented any other form of legal redress for the victims and families.
Its establishment and findings also prevented further political action for many years, Ms Keegan said.
While the finding of arson paved the way for compensation to be paid to the owners of the Stardust, no statutory compensation was available to the victims or their families, she added.
Ms Keegan also pointed out that despite the finding of arson nobody was ever prosecuted.
The committee has asked the Garda to confirm whether it ever initiated a murder inquiry after the arson finding.
In a letter to the Garda, the committee pointed out that under the European Convention on Human Rights, the Garda has an obligation to conduct an investigation.
While the deaths occurred in 1981, Ms Keegan maintained that the Garda would still be obliged to consider all new evidence that may be brought to its attention in the context of its European Convention on Human Rights obligations.
