Paula Byrne (19), Coolock – ‘She was the peacemaker in our house’

The inquests into the deaths of the 48 young people who died in the Stardust fire in Artane, Dublin in 1981 feature pen portraits of each of the deceased by bereaved family members. Find all of the portraits and more coverage here.

Paula’s position in our family was right in the middle. She was the youngest of her older sister and three brothers and the eldest to her three younger brothers. Whether it was her middle place in the family or just simply Paula herself, she was always the peacemaker in our house. Going to bed on an argument was not in her nature.

[She] was a beautiful young girl with her whole, wonderful life ahead of her. She loved dancing, music, and had a great eye for fashion. She was gifted with a passion for drawing and many of her schoolbooks would be full of doodles and sketches. One of her many drawings still hangs proudly in our home today.

To sum up Paula’s nature and personality in one word it would most definitely be “kindness”. [She] was only 19 the last time we spoke with her on that Friday evening. She had just got ready to go to the dancing competition in the Stardust.

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Later that evening little did we know that the distant sound of sirens would be the start of a nightmare that we could not awaken from. The sound of the sirens and the knock on the door in the early hours of the morning; the words “Is Paula home? There is a fire” were the start of our fears. We rushed to the Stardust ... We could not find Paula.

[ Stardust pen portrait: Jimmy Buckley (23), Donnycarney - ‘My father figure, brother, my hero’ ]

[ More than 40 years after Stardust nightclub tragedy families welcome moment of truth ]

It was not until the following Wednesday in the city mortuary that our last shred of hope for Paula abruptly faded away. The loss of Paula and the impact on our family is impossible to quantify. When you witness the spark of life going out of your mother, you hope in time that it will return. It never did.

We welcome the attorney general’s ethical and brave decision in the granting of this fresh inquest. [We hope] that justice will prevail. For all parties involved in this inquest we wish you Godspeed on your journey with the responsibility that is entrusted to you.

For our family nothing can bring Paula back, nothing can erase the loss and pain of the last 40 years. Preventing another Stardust, knowing that no other family would never have to endure the same trauma would be the greatest gift.