For me, it's the time I lost with my mother and father..I've never seen them walk, I've never heard their voices

Lisa's parents died in 1981 fire tragedy

- LARISSA NOLAN

THE only orphan of the Stardust fire says the families of victims can never move on until they know what happened.

Lisa Lawlor – known as the Stardust baby since her parents Maureen and Francis lost their lives in the inferno – hopes the inquiry will finally bring closure for those left behind.

Lisa, 43, said: “We need to know what happened and maybe then we can get closure. Until we know, we can’t.

“It’s a simple question. But it’s taken 43 years to get the answer.

“Nothing has healed. When we find out the whys and the hows, we can then say: OK.”

The mother-of-four from Swords in Dublin will read out her pen portrait of her lost parents at the Stardust inquest tomorrow.

She is the only child of the 48 victims of the Valentine’s Night fire disaster in the ballroom in Dublin’s Artane in 1981.

It remains the worst fire disaster in the history of the State.

Francis, 25, initially escaped the blaze, but died when he went back in to try and rescue Maureen, 23. Little Lisa was 17 months old at the time.

She told the Irish Mirror: “I feel different to the other families who have lost siblings and sons and daughters, because I am different. I’m completely alone in this world. Sometimes I feel overlooked. I feel on the outside. I lost everything. I used to try and prove it.

“I am the only one who lost parents. There’s only one of me. I have no years to look back on – for me, it’s the times I lost with my mother and father.

“I have no memories. I’ve never seen my mother and father walk, I’ve never heard their voices.

“I try to create memories from what everyone else tells me.”