Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald TD, responding to the verdict delivered by the inquest into the Stardust target, has said that ‘justice has been a long time coming for the Stardust families; today it has arrived’.

She has said that the forty-eight young people who died on St. Valentine’s morning 1981 will forever be remembered.

She said:

“My thoughts today are with the survivors and the families of those who lost their lives in the Stardust tragedy.

“They have waited over four decades for answers to what happened to them and their loved ones. Justice has been a long time coming; today it has arrived.

“The verdict of unlawful killing confirms what survivors, victims’ families and Dubliners have always known.

“The forty-eight young lives that were taken in the Stardust tragedy night will be forever missed by those that love them. Now each family has the comfort of knowing the truth of that night and why their loved one died.

“It has been a long and heartbreaking road for victims’ families and survivors.

“They have overcome countless, cruel obstacles and diversions, including those put up by the Irish State.

“They have overcome. We salute them.

“The forty-eight young people who died on St. Valentine’s morning 1981 will be forever remembered.”