{"id":291795,"date":"2026-02-11T05:12:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T05:12:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/291795\/"},"modified":"2026-02-11T05:12:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T05:12:12","slug":"compensation-scheme-for-stardust-fire-survivors-described-as-absolutely-horrendous-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/291795\/","title":{"rendered":"Compensation scheme for Stardust fire survivors described as \u2018absolutely horrendous\u2019 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

A scheme to compensate more than 800 survivors of the 1981 Stardust<\/a> fire, which will see each person get \u20ac20,000, has been described as \u201cabsolutely horrendous\u201d and a \u201cfiasco\u201d. <\/p>\n

Lawyers acting for survivors of the north Dublin<\/a> nightclub inferno in which 48 young people died, say the survivors have been treated with \u201ccontempt\u201d by the Department of Justice<\/a> as promises made to them have been \u201creneged on\u201d.<\/p>\n

An inquest in 2024 returned a verdict of \u201cunlawful killing\u201d in respect of all 48 who died.<\/p>\n

In a statement on Tuesday, Minister for Justice Jim O\u2019Callaghan<\/a> said he was \u201cvery conscious\u201d the 45th anniversary of the tragedy was \u201cimminent\u201d as he announced a scheme of ex gratia recognition payments to survivors injured in the blaze.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis will fulfil the Government\u2019s commitment to implement a two-phased approach to Stardust redress.\u201d<\/p>\n

A prominent survivor of the disaster, Jimmy Fitzpatrick said however, he was \u201cvery annoyed\u201d to have heard news of the scheme from The Irish Times rather than from the department or his legal representative.<\/p>\n

\"BettyBetty Bissett, mother of Stardust victim Carol Bissett, with survivor Jimmy Fitzpatrick, at Government Buildings in 2024. Photograph: Dara Mac D\u00f3naill <\/p>\n

Fitzpatrick, who sustained almost complete third degree burns over his entire body and lost fingers in the blaze, said he and survivors were promised the most seriously injured and traumatised survivors would be treated \u201cexceptionally\u201d by the scheme. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a one-size fits all. They hadn\u2019t the courtesy to contact us themselves. I should have heard this from my solicitor. I shouldn\u2019t have to be hearing this from the press. They say this is finalised, Well it\u2019s not it\u2019s finalised in my head.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the department had promised meaningful engagement. \u201cThis is a promise that\u2019s broke. They can\u2019t just change the goalpost … They have watered it down.\u201d<\/p>\n

In October last year Belfast-based solicitor Darragh Mackin of Phoenix Law, acting for Stardust survivors, notified the department of their intention to launch legal proceedings over the Government\u2019s \u201cfailure\u201d to pay compensation and engage meaningfully with the survivors.<\/p>\n

The firm issued formal pre-action correspondence on behalf of Fitzpatrick, an injured survivor and other survivors who remained without the State compensation they were publicly promised.<\/p>\n

Asked for his response to Tuesday\u2019s announcement, Mackin said he had heard of it from media.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is absolutely horrendous. The previous Government promised this [compensation to survivors] would be done in two phases, with the most seriously injured treated separately. That commitment has been broken.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were promised survivors would be consulted before the finalisation of the process. That has been reneged upon.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said survivors had not been consulted. \u201cThey have been treated with nothing but contempt. This is a fiasco,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

O\u2019Callaghan said the scheme came as the second phase of compensation, following compensation to the families of the young people and children killed in the fire, concluded last year. <\/p>\n

\u201cPhase two, which I am announcing today, will provide for ex gratia recognition to all survivor beneficiaries of the original Stardust victims compensation tribunal.\u201d<\/p>\n

A total of 823 people who were present on the night of the disaster, in the early hours of 14th February 1981, received compensation at the original compensation tribunal in 1985. <\/p>\n

Only these individuals will be entitled to compensation. <\/p>\n

O\u2019Callaghan said he was \u201cdetermined\u201d the process would be implemented as simply as possible. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt will not place a significant burden of proof on survivors, or be overly bureaucratic, and it will be accessible without legal assistance.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not intended to constitute \u2018compensation\u2019 for the injuries and trauma sustained by those who survived the fire, as that was the scope of the original tribunal, but instead, what is proposed is a payment which recognises the delays in providing truth and justice. <\/p>\n

\u201cGiven the passage of time, it is also of the utmost importance that the proposal does not give rise to any further trauma for applicants. My department will now prepare arrangements for the implementation of this scheme. Full details, including the simplified applications process, will be available shortly.\u201d<\/p>\n

The applications process will be open for six months, and those eligible applicants will be paid as soon as possible, the department said.<\/p>\n

Full details of this initiative \u2013 including the simplified applications process \u201cwill be published as soon as possible\u201d, by the department.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A scheme to compensate more than 800 survivors of the 1981 Stardust fire, which will see each person…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":291796,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[9691,615,42,18573,43,44228,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-291795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-department-of-justice","tag-dublin","tag-headlines","tag-jim-ocallaghan","tag-news","tag-stardust","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291795","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=291795"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291795\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/291796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}