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Antoinette Keegan
Stardust disaster
Mum (79) stages sit-in at Justice Department over deaths of her daughters in fire
Christine Keegan wants her daughters’ names removed from the two official reports on the blaze.
A MOTHER IS staging a sit-in at the Department of Justice over the deaths of her two daughters in the Stardust fire.
Her third daughter, Antoinette Keegan of the Stardust Victims’ Committee, said that her mother intends on staying at the department overnight if necessary.
She is holding the sit-in as she wants Mary and Martina Keegan’s names removed from the official Coffey review and Keane report on the 1981 nightclub disaster.
“We just want the names taken out of the two reports,” said Antoinette.
My mother is nearly 80 and she is not leaving until her two daughters’ names are taken out. Eugene Kelly is here – he wants his brother’s name taken out. Other families are on the way in.
Part of the family’s issue with the reports is the mention of a 999 call on the night of the disaster. The family say dispute the call, which is mentioned in both reports.
An official at the Department of Justice is examining material concerning the cause of the fire, as requested by the committee.
Geraldine Foy, a researcher who works with the victims’ committee, said she had given concerns about the review and report to the gardaí. The families of the deceased say Foy is “the only person in the world who knows every detail of this case”.
On Valentine’s night in 1981, a devastating fire at the Stardust nightclub killed 48 people and left 214 injured.
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