Stardust tragedy verdicts: Inquiry finds 48 souls died by unlawful killing

Verdicts of unlawful killing have been returned at the Stardust inquests into the deaths of the 48 people in the 1981 nightclub fire.

The 12 person jury has just delivered the verdict of unlawful killing to a packed courtroom

Families in court today cheered and applauded as the verdict was read out.

One of the victims was Ballinlough woman Kathleen Muldoon who was just 19 at the time of her death.

The families of those who died in the 1981 Stardust nightclub fire gathered at Dublin coroner’s court today to hear the 48 verdicts as to how and why their loved ones died.

The 12-person jury reached majority verdicts in all cases, the foreman confirmed at the beginning of the hearing at the Pillar Room of the Rotunda Hospital, where the court has been sitting since April 2023.

The hearing worked through the 48 separate inquests over the course of the early afternoon. The findings with regards to date, identification and cause of death of victims were read in alphabetical order.

More than 90 days of evidence and testimony from 373 witnesses was heard in the inquiry into the deaths of 48 people, aged 16 to 27, in a fire in the north Dublin ballroom in the early hours of 14th February 1981. Five verdicts were available — accidental, misadventure, unlawful killing, open verdict and narrative.

Forty-two people died in the Stardust premises, and six people died following removal from the premises, the jury found.

The jury also found that at the time of the fire, exits in the Stardust Ballroom were either locked, chained, or otherwise obstructed. For this reason, the jury find that the deceased were impeded in their ability to access and/or exit through the emergency exits.

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