After 42yrs we've been listened to..

Families' heartbreaking tribute to the 48 dead

- DANNY DE VAAL

RELATIVES of the 48 Stardust victims gathered in the Garden of Remembrance yesterday after the final pen portrait was delivered. 

The devastated families said reading the tributes about those who died meant their loved ones were no longer just a number and told the story of who they were and could have been.

The last pen portrait was read out during the inquest which is being held at the Dublin District Coroner’s Court in the Pillar Room of the Rotunda Hospital.

Following the last tribute, the inquest was adjourned until Tuesday.

Afterwards, families made the short walk to the Garden of Remembrance where the names of each person who lost their life were read out. It was followed by a 48-second silence to honour the 48 who died after a fire swept through the Artane nightclub in the early hours of February 14, 1981.

Following prayers, the families listened to You’ll Never Walk Alone with many tearful relatives joining in. They then played They Never Came Home, a song penned by Christy Moore about the tragedy.

Veteran broadcaster Charlie Bird, who was visibly emotional, attended the memorial along with his wife Claire Mould.