Remarks by Taoiseach Simon Harris at the Ceremony of Commemoration for all those affected by the Stardust Fire

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President, Lord Mayor, Ministers, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am honoured to welcome you all here to the Garden of Remembrance – where today we come together, as a State, to commemorate the victims, the survivors, the families and all those affected by the Stardust Fire.

It is fitting that in this special place in our capital city – a place for reflection and recollection – that we gather to commemorate those 48 young people who went out to enjoy themselves on Valentine’s eve in 1981 and never came home.

Forty-three years and 64 days later, the Stardust Inquest delivered the truth at long last, with the verdict of unlawful killing on the 18th of April. On the 23rd of April in Dáil Eireann, I delivered a State apology to the victims, survivors and families of the Stardust tragedy and today, two months later, we take the next step with this State commemoration.

Here in this Garden, we remember our fallen heroes and I know that is what those 48 young people were to their families and communities.

And you, the families of those who died, those who survived, those who were injured and those who fought to save lives on that night and afterwards, became their heroes.

So many people here today, and many who sadly did not live to see it, never gave up fighting for the memory of their loved ones. Today, your fight sees them properly commemorated by the State, in recognition of their terrible loss in a national tragedy.

I can think of no words more fitting for your long campaign for justice, which has culminated in this moment, than the poem, We Saw a Vision, inscribed on these walls in the Garden of Remembrance:

In the darkness of despair we saw a vision

We lit the light of hope and it was not extinguished

In the desert of discouragement we saw a vision

We planted the tree of valour and it blossomed

In the winter of bondage we saw a vision

We melted the snow of lethargy and the river of resurrection flowed from it

We sent our vision aswim like a swan on the river

The vision became a reality

Winter became summer

Bondage became freedom

And this we left to you as your inheritance

O generations of freedom remember us, the generations of the vision

You have ensured that your loved ones and the Stardust tragedy will be remembered by the generations to come. You have ensured their names are written in the history books just as their 48 young faces are etched on our national collective memory.

Above all, what has shone through – driving your fight and your determination – is the abiding love and loyalty you have for your daughters, your sons, your sisters, your brothers, your aunts and uncles and your mothers and fathers.

It is a love and loyalty for family that is both personal to you and common to us all. It is why we are here today; it is what will resonate with us as you lay wreaths in their memories today in this garden.

While this ceremony is one of solemn reflection, it is also a testament to love and fidelity.

You can be very proud of this commemoration ceremony that is designed to honour those people you loved and lost in the most awful of circumstances. You can be proud that their names will never be forgotten because of you. And you can be proud that due to your perseverance, resilience and above all, love, that we, as a nation and a State finally, publicly, commemorate them with you today.

Maireann grá go deo.