Since the horrific events at the Stardust club in Dublin 20 years ago, up to 1,200 young people have died in similar tragedies in countries ranging from the United States to China and from Mexico to South Africa. In the European Union alone in the course of those two decades there have been five disastrous disco fires - two in Portugal - as well as in Spain, Sweden and the Netherlands.
That the heart-rending scenes witnessed by Dubliners in the city's hospitals and at the City Morgue in February 1981 have been repeated so frequently throughout the world, indicates a deplorable lack of progress internationally in instituting effective safety measures.
There are indications too, in the series of articles in this newspaper today by Kitty Holland, that not all the lessons of the Stardust tragedy have been learned in this State. It is frightening - indeed inexcusable - that some of the recommendations put forward by the Stardust Tribunal do not yet appear to have been implemented.
The 1981 tribunal concluded that "control and direction by central government" was necessary in order to ensure that individual fire brigades could respond adequately to the challenges posed by such catastrophic events, yet brigades remain under the control of local authorities. A national inspectorate of fire services was also proposed in order to ensure a high-level of response throughout the State.
Since the Stardust tragedy, the demographic and cultural structure in this State has changed dramatically. There are more young people and the number of discos and night clubs in has increased significantly. Where once only the large cities and towns offered such forms of entertainment, there are now discos and clubs right through the State, even in the smaller centres of population in which full-time professional firefighters are not available.
To add to the danger, Mr Michael Fitzsimons, chairman of the Chief Fire Officers' Association, has asserted that fire regulations were being broken "every night of the week" at public venues through the State. It does not, under these circumstances, take a major leap of the imagination to envisage a situation in which another horrific disaster might occur.
If the fire service is "creaking" and does not have the manpower to inspect premises, the necessary improvements must be made. If a national training centre for fire personnel needs to be set up, then it should be instituted as soon as is practicable. If the £15 million capital investment in fire service needs a radical restructuring of the service itself in order to maximise its effectiveness, then this too should take place. The seconding of active fire-fighters for brief periods of training is patently a "band-aid" solution to a problem which deserves much greater attention.
One can understand that in the Ireland of two decades ago sufficient funds may not have been available to implement such recommendations. This excuse does not exist in the current climate of high tax revenues and unprecedented affluence; the putting in place of all appropriate measures should not be delayed.