The Taoiseach is to issue a State apology to the families of the victims of the Stardust fire.
Forty-eight people were killed when the blaze ripped through the Dublin nightclub in 1981.
After a more than 40-year campaign for justice, last week an inquest found that the 48 victims had been unlawfully killed.
A previous finding in 1982 said the fire had been started deliberately, a theory the families never accepted.
That ruling was dismissed in 2009, leading to the latest inquests for the victims, who were aged from 16 to 27 and mostly came from the surrounding north Dublin area.
On Saturday, Taoiseach Simon Harris “apologised unreservedly” to the families at a meeting with them in Government Buildings.
On Tuesday, he will issue a State apology in the Dáil. Families have been invited to attend, and the names of the victims will be read out in the Dáil chamber.
Speaking on Tuesday morning on his way in to Cabinet, Mr Harris said he is keen to deliver the apology to the victims, survivors and families.
“I think these are families that have been failed for over four decades, they are families that have looked for answers for over four decades, they are families who have all too often found these (government) gates shut to them and governments not listening to them,” Mr Harris said.
“I have had really important, heartfelt and emotional engagement with many of the families over the last few days.
“I was very pleased to visit the Stardust memorial in Artane last night, and I wanted to be there and be at the spot of where this fire happened in advance of delivering the apology today and let the apology speak for itself.
“I do really hope it is an apology that can help with the healing process.
“I have worked really hard to try and capture what the families have raised with me, so I don’t want to preview the apology other than to say the State failed these families and the impact of that failure has been devastating.
“It has heaped pain and misery on top of tragedy, and I want try and capture that today.”
Today, the State finally apologises to the families of those unlawfully killed in the Stardust Fire, and to those who survived.
For forty-eight years, the state and successive governments blocked you at every turn but you ensured the truth prevailed.
Today is the families' day.… pic.twitter.com/WNJNar9fu7
— Mary Lou McDonald (@MaryLouMcDonald) April 23, 2024
He said he will discuss with Cabinet how the State can “publicly commemorate and acknowledge it”.
“That is something I am very eager to do with the families.”
Tánaiste Micheál Martin also expressed support for a redress scheme for the families.
Last Thursday, the jury in the inquest returned a verdict that all 48 victims were unlawfully killed.
A majority decision from the seven women and five men found that the blaze, which broke out in the early hours of Valentine’s Day 1981, was caused by an electrical fault in the hot press of the bar.
