Survivors of 1981 nightclub fire offered €20,000

Survivors of a lethal fire that killed 48 people in Dublin in 1981 will get payments of €20,000 (£17,400), the Irish government has announced.

More than 200 people were injured in the blaze in the Stardust nightclub in Artane, north Dublin, on Valentine's night that year.

It was the largest ever fire disaster in the history of the Irish state and its 45th anniversary is this Saturday.

The payments will be made to survivors who received money from the original Stardust Victims Compensation Tribunal, which took place several years after the fire.

While many of the victims of the fire hailed from the north Dublin area, three of the young people were from Northern Ireland; Robert Hillick and James Millar from Belfast and Susan Morgan from Londonderry.

A new inquest into the fire concluded in 2024, when the jury found the 48 victims had been unlawfully killed.

The fire was caused by an electrical fault, but emergency exits were locked, chained or otherwise obstructed, meaning many victims could not get out in time.

The jury also found that the failure of the emergency lighting system and lack of preparedness of staff played a part in the disaster.

The Irish government is now implementing a redress scheme for victims, which is worth €24m (£20.5m).

As part of the scheme, the families of the deceased were to receive €500,000 (£428,200) in compensation for each victim - this is phase one of the scheme.

Phase two, announced by Irish Justice Minister Jim O'Callaghan on Tuesday, applies to those who received payments from the original tribunal.

"This will fulfil the government's commitment to implement a two-phased approach to Stardust redress.

"Payments in respect of Phase One of the redress, for the families of those so tragically killed in the fire, were completed in August last year," he said in a statement.

"Phase Two, which I am announcing today, will provide for ex gratia recognition to all survivor beneficiaries of the original Stardust Victims Compensation Tribunal."

The payment aims to recognise "the delays in providing truth and justice", he said.

O'Callaghan said the scheme will be accessible "without legal assistance".

"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."

Families of victims who campaigned for decades received an official state apology from Taoiseach (Irish prime minister) Simon Harris in 2024.