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A SCHEME OF payments to survivors who were injured in the Stardust fire in north Dublin in 1981 has been labelled “disappointing” by lawyers representing survivors.
The payments were announced today by Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan.
The fire on Valentine’s night in the popular Stardust nightclub in Artane claimed the lives 0f 48 young people and injured hundreds of others. An inquest determined in 2024 that all 48 had died as a result of unlawful killing.
The nightclub had many of its exits chained shut and windows blocked, trapping people inside when a fire broke out.
A 1985 tribunal awarded compensation to a total of 823 people who were injured in the blaze. These 823 are eligible for an ex gratia payment of €20,000 under the scheme announced today.
Ex gratia payments are voluntary lump sum payments offered without any legal obligation or admission of liability.
Solicitor Darragh Mackin of Phoenix Law, who represents most of the families, said the payment scheme announced is a “very disappointing development” and “one size does not fit all”.
“Those with life changing injuries are consigned to the same category as those who left early,” Mackin said, referring to those who were compensated during the 1985 tribunal.
“It is not too late to salvage this process before confidence is eroded beyond repair. The previous process tells us that the key to confidence is constructive engagement. Despite previous promises, and for reasons unknown, that has not happened.
“We simply ask the Minister to engage to ensure that the voices of victims are heard and previous promises are honoured.”
Sinn Féin MEP Lynn Boylan, a longtime campaigner for the Stardust families, said the announced scheme was disgraceful, and that there had been “zero consultation” in the lead up to today’s announcement. Many survivors had only heard the news through the media today, Boylan said.
In answers to parliamentary questions last year, Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan said that work was continuing on the second phase of the compensation scheme, for those injured in the fire, after the redress scheme for the families of those who died was confirmed in 2024.
“A second exceptionality phase, which is to be examined in respect of survivors, will take into account that compensation awards were made previously by the Stardust Victims’ Compensation Tribunal established in 1985,” O’Callaghan said in his answers to opposition TDs last year.
“Officials from my Department have commenced work to develop proposals for this phase and I look forward to examining the outputs from this work in the near future.”
Speaking today, Boylan said it was unfair that the payments would essentially be made at a “flat rate” and called on the government to go back to the drawing board and come back with a “proper” scheme.
Mackin said the term “exceptionality” had been crucial to discussions between the families and the government.
“That’s clear from the fact that the term appears not only in proposals advanced by our office, but it also appears in public statements made on this matter by the government.
“The reason the term is crucial is because it provided the foundation for ensuring that the scheme would not be a one-size-fits-all approach to compensation. It would be determined on ‘exceptionality’ to allow for flexibility to address the reality of the situation.”
Each person will be eligible to receive a fixed recognition payment of €20,000 under the scheme announced today, which will be disregarded for tax and state support assessments.
The applications process will open for six months and payments will be made to those eligible as soon as possible. Based off the 823 people eligible, the potential maximum cost of phase two is €16.4 million.
O’Callaghan said he was conscious that the 45th anniversary of the tragedy is imminent and remembered the 48 victims who lost their lives, and their families.
“I also want to recognise today the survivors who were injured during this horrific event.
“I am determined that the process that will now be implemented will be as simple as possible. It will not place a significant burden of proof on survivors, or be overly bureaucratic, and it will be accessible without legal assistance.
“It is not intended to constitute ‘compensation’ 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.”
* This article was updated on 12/02/26. An earlier version incorrectly referred to Simon Harris previously committing to a ‘sliding scale’ of payments to survivors.
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