‘Confidence will be undermined’ – Stardust families call for State inquest reform after heroic struggle for justice | Y0ZH301 | 2024-05-04 00:08:01
'Confidence will be undermined' – Stardust families call for State inquest reform after heroic struggle for justice | Y0ZH301 | 2024-05-04 00:08:01
THE Stardust families want the way inquests are carried out changed following their own heroic struggles for justice.
Lawyers for the families of the victims of Ireland's most devastating fire have called for reform of how inquests are carried out.
They have appealed to Justice Minister Helen McEntee to ensure changes made for the largest inquest in the history of the State – in jury selection and the provision of legal aid – should be enacted across the board.
In 2022, the Minister amended legislation to allow for the "independent selection" of the Stardust jury and also ensured the jurors would continue to be paid wages by their employers, as is the case with criminal and civil trials.
While gardai usually select juries for inquests, the Stardust jurors were selected by way of the electoral register and a senior counsel.
Darragh Mackin, the solicitor from Phoenix Law which represented the families and helped clinch the fresh inquests in the first place, said without those amendment, the Stardust inquest "simply would not have been able to take place".
He also said that changes which meant the families of the victims, regardless of income, received legal aid should also be extended to cover all inquests.
RTE reported that in the correspondence to Ms McEntee, he said: "There can never be another jury in this country selected in any other way than that provided for in criminal and civil cases under the Juries Act.
Mr Mackin added: "Inquests are as, if not more, important to bereaved families than their criminal or civil equivalent. This should be reflected in how the jury is selected.
"As long as they remain uncorrected, families' confidence in the coronial process will be undermined."
48 people died at Stardust, including one young woman who was pregnant.
Some 43 years after one of the worst disasters in the history of this State, a jury determined that each of the victims was unlawfully killed.
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