Stardust tragedy relatives deny asking Casey to be their spokesman

Relatives of those killed in the Stardust disaster have denied they ever asked presidential candidate Peter Casey to be their spokesman.

The Justice for the Stardust 48 campaign accused Mr Casey of a “complete misrepresentation” of their views.

Speaking to RTÉ presenter Miriam O'Callaghan on Saturday at Dublin Castle, Mr Casey said: "I met with the survivors of that [the Stardust tragedy] this week. I really had to bite my tongue hard. It's a disgrace that we haven't sorted that out.

“They asked me if I would be their spokesperson. Absolutely. That tragedy should have been addressed and resolved years and years ago.”

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The Justice for the Stardust 48 survivors sent out messages to the six presidential candidates in advance of the election seeking their support for the inquest into the tragedy to be reopened.

The fire occurred on St Valentine's Night 1981 when the Stardust nightclub burned down in Artane, Dublin, with the loss of 48 people, most of them teenagers. Relatives of those who died believe the true cause of the fire has never been found.

In a statement, the campaign said at no stage did they ask Mr Casey to be a spokesman for their campaign.

They added: “We as individual family members of the 48 victims have been our own spokesperson for the last 37 years and will continue to do so until we receive justice for our loved ones.”

They added that they did not want Mr Casey's support because of his comments about Travellers stating that the Travelling community had their own fire tragedy at Carrickmines, Dublin, in October 2015 in which 10 people died.

They asked Mr Casey not to turn up on November 20th on their scheduled walk from Westland Row to the office of the Attorney General on Merrion Square when they will deliver 48,000 signed postcards calling for a new inquest.

They concluded: “We find his comments on Travellers deeply offensive and, given that the Traveller community have had their own tragedy at Carrickmines, it is in solidarity with those families we would ask that Peter Casey not attend on the 20th November.”