Stardust Inquests – Day 7 – Pen Portraits

Hillick, Robert “Bobby” – notes from Bill Hillick

This short pen portrait has been put together from conversations which we were lucky enough to have with Bill Hillick about his brother Bobby, who died in the Stardust fire. Sadly, Bill passed away before this pen portrait of his brother would be shared today.

Bobby grew up in Belfast and lived at home with his mother and older brother, Bill. Bobby’s dad passed away at 25 from cancer and so it was just us two at the house with our mum during this time.

As we grew up, Bobby would always have got the upper hand on me. I had many black eyes and bloody noses from him when we fell out. We were very close and just doing as young boys do. My mother would have heard us fighting in the bedroom and come to hit us over the head with her slipper to stop us. We loved eachother and this was just a part of growing up in a lively house with a close family. Bobby played plenty of sport growing up. He loved football and boxing. Bobby was always outgoing and hardworking.

When Bobby was thirteen, he wanted to start making money and was anxious to work. We all were at that time. He got his paper round and it was a successful paper round which he kept up all the way until he left school. Bobby was a hardworking man and went to Dublin to work on a building site.

Then the fire happened. I think it wasn’t until the next day that we went down to identify the bodies and we couldn’t believe that this was happening to our family.

Bobby’s death really took its toll on me and I went to England for many years to try to block out that it had happened. I couldn’t cope with it and being at home was being constantly faced with his lost. Even now I still don’t think I will ever get over it. We just had a two-year age difference. We were so close, and I miss my brother so much.

My mother was always a good religious woman and losing a child after losing our father would have been anybody’s worst nightmare. At first, we thought the fire was a freak accident and the deaths that arose from it were unavoidable. But then we heard some troubling details about what happened that night as the inquests played out, which made the whole thing that much more difficult to deal with. My mother has never gotten over this, but she is a quiet and stoic woman. My mother doesn’t deserve to be forced to carry this heartbreak and this grief.

It is so sad that his life was taken when he was so young. Like any other young man, Bobby had his whole life ahead of him until it was cut short. Bobby’s death devastated our family.

Keegan, Martina – Lorraine Keegan

My name is Lorraine Keegan, I am the fifth born child and sister to Mary and Martina Keegan who were both killed in the Stardust Disaster. I am going to speak here today on behalf of my sisters Antoinette, Suzanne brothers John, Neville and Damien to give you an insight and portrait of how beautiful, dearly loved and very special our sisters Mary and Martina were to us all.

Our sisters’ names were Mary Theresa Keegan, aged 19, and Martina Elaine Keegan, aged 16. They were real people, truly loved by their mam Christine Keegan RIP, their dad John Keegan RIP and all of us, their sisters and brothers. Martina was the 4th child born. She was not only our sister, we all had a very close bond to her. She too was like a best friend whom we could share our secrets with.

We all have so many wonderful memories of her and simply just not enough time to express them all here today.

Martina was born in the Coombe hospital on the 8th October 1964. At the time of her birth, my mam, dad, Mary, Antoinette and John were all living in a single bedroom in Ballyfermont. We were living with my mam’s sister Phylis, her husband and two children in a two bedroom house in Ballyfermont. When my mam and dad came back from England to make a life for themselves and their children, they put their names down on the corporation list to be housed- this would have been early 1963. It broke my mam and dad’s heart to tell the doctors in hospital that they could not bring Martina home as the living conditions were too bad. The bedroom occupied by our two parents, our two sisters and our brother was crammed with beds, a cot which John slept in, suitcases which were all stacked high and contained all of our clothing and there was literally nowhere in the two bedroom house for a new born baby.

But, with the intervention of the doctors in the Coombe Hospital who contacted Dublin Corporation with an urgent request for housing on my parents’ behalf and informing them of the living conditions we lived in. To our parents’ surprise, an inspector immediately called to our aunty’s house to do the inspection and in the following couple of days, our parents got our new three bedroom family house in Coolock. Our parents were delighted and excited to bring their new born baby Martina home to a brand new house with lots of room for us all at last.

I recall our ma used to tell us all stories at night time before we would all go to bed, and the one she almost reminisced on most of all was how they got the house in Coolock. She used to say, “It is all thanks to Martina that we got this house”. When our ma told her mother she was after getting a house off the corporation, our granny Dally asked her, “Where is it Chrissie?” and when our ma told granny Daly it was in Coolock, our granny replied, “Jesus, Chrissie, that is out in the country”. So it was through the birth of Martina, we got the family home in Coolock where our parents had four more children: myself, Lorraine, Suzanne and Neville (who were twins) and Damien ten years after the twins. We had so much love and happiness in our family home and as I talk here today our family home is still a Keegan household with a third generation of family living there.

Martina was absolutely stunningly beautiful. She always said that one day, she was going to be a model. That was her ambition and we all agree she would have been a great model. She had everything going for her: very attractive, a beautiful figure, natural blonde hair and a fantastic personality. We honestly know that there wasn’t one fella in Coolock or its surrounding areas who didn’t fancy Martina.

Martina was really beautiful inside and out. She had the most outstanding looks, absolutely stunning. She was a real life look-a-like of Marilyn Monroe. She was the image of our late ma Christine Keegan RIP. Martina was a really very bubbly child. She loved her family so much. She loved her life and all her friends, and basically just loved life in general. Martina was loved by every one of us and everyone who knew her. Inside, she was caring, compassionate, fun-loving, very sociable, witty and an extremely beautiful sister. We were all blessed to have her as our sister.

Martina was a very bright and intelligent child. After primary school, she went on to Colaiste Dhulaigh Secondary School to complete her Intermediate Certificate with excellent results. This was in the year of 1979. It was later, towards the end of June 1979, that Martina got a part-time job working as a waitress in the Claremanor Hotel on the Malahide Road not far from where we lived- and she loved this job. Every night she worked, she would come home with a bag full of coins which she got off the customers she would have served all night as a tip for her service of promptness and attention to detail for their orders of drink and beverages. We used to wait up ‘til Martina would come home very night she worked and we always remember Martina would have earned twice the amount of money in tips as she actually did in her wages. We would all sit on the floor and help her count all her money.

Then the bad news came that Martina was out of a job. The Claremanor Hotel went on fire and was destroyed. This happened in November 1980. Martina was heartbroken, she loved this job. But she didn’t stop at that. She applied for a new job in Superquinn in Northside Shopping Centre and was delighted to hear the great news that she was starting her second job in December for the Christmas season.

Martina continued working her part-time job in Superquinn and continued her education while she was studying to complete a Secretarial Course in Colaiste Dhulaigh which she would have sat her exams in the following June 1981. But, the Stardust fire put a halt to all this as Martina died Saturday 14th February 1981 in the Stardust fire.

As there were five girls inside our house, we always remember the house at the back of us had a lot of boys in their house. As young girls and boys growing up, we began talking over the back wall and having a bit of a laugh with them all. Mary would be talking to John, Antoinette would be talking to Brian, Martina would be talking to Aidan and I would be talking to Paul. We all then started going out with them, just as childhood relationships. We never had a phone and at night time we would communicate with them through our back bedroom window to their back bedroom window. This was done through two empty bean cans that we pierced with a hole at the end of them with a string pushed in and knitted tightly and extended from our back window to our neighbours’ at the back of us.

We all just had so much innocent fun and laughter. As time went on, we all went our separate ways but Martina continued dating Aidan and both of them were a really lovely couple and continued going out with eachother for a while. It was around the time when Martina convinced our parents to let her go to the Stardust with her workmates from Superquinn when Martina and Aidan went their separate ways, on good terms of course as they were still great friends. Martina started to date one of her workmates David Morton from Superquinn and fell madly in love with him. They were both seriously in love with one and other.

As we were all growing up, we would have different chores to do around the house. The one that sticks out in our minds was the coal shed, the cleaning of the open fire and resetting the open fire to be lit again. This was a chore none of us ever liked and yet it was Martina’s favourite. She loved to clean out the fire and getting it all ready to be relit. When the bags of coal would arrive by delivery truck, this was another chore she loved and she would sort it all out in the coal shed. We would have many a laugh with her, as one minute Martina would be massively beautiful and the next minute she would be covered in black from the coal all over her face, arms and hands.

We nicknamed her Cinderella and shortened it at times when we would all be sitting in the living room and Martina would walk through the back our into the kitchen, through the living room to go to the bathroom to wash herself. We would all be laughing at the state she would come inside in. We would say to her “Ah, here comes Cinders”. Never, ever in our wildest dreams did we ever think this would be the condition of her body in death.

Martina was able to convince our ma and da to let her go to the Stardust, as all her workmates from Superquinn were going. Our parents allowed her to go only if her older sisters or brother were going. On Friday 13th February 1981, Martina finished work early and came home to get herself ready for what was to be a great night, the K-Tel disco competition, and to meet up with her boyfriend David Morton. Our sister Martina was stunning. She could wear a black plastic bag on her and still look beautiful. This particular night, she wore her boob-tube top, her lurex belt and her satin black trousers that clung to her, showing her beautiful little petite figure. She looked like a movie star with all attention paid to getting her make-up perfect, her hair etc. and was so looking forward to her night out with Mary, Antoinette, Mary Kenny, Helen and meeting up with her boyfriend David.

They all left the house so excited.

When my younger siblings went to bed, myself and my late mam Christine Keegan watched The Late Late Show. John came home and we asked why he was home. He told us that he had been refused because he was too young – he was 17 years old. When The Late Late Show was over myself and my mam went to bed.

I remember being woken up by my mam. She told me that my dad had come home from work and woken her up to check and see if the girls were home because he had heard at his job that the Stardust was on fire. My dad then told me to stay up and listen for Mary, Antoinette and Martina in case they came home. My mam and dad were out for hours. When they arrived home, they were covered in soot. They didn’t find Mary, Antoinette or Martina.

They both spent all day Saturday and Sunday in the Morgue and at 6pm a Garda came out with two plastic bags. The Garda asked my parents to identify the jewellery in the bags. One bag contained a necklace and the other, two rings. My mam could positively identify the rings as Martina’s, one was a signet ring with the initials MK on it and the other was a Claddagh ring, which I am wearing on my hand today.

A knock came to the door while I was at home, and it was a Garda who was looking for me. They wanted me to go into the Morgue. When I got there, the smell was horrendous. My dad and mam asked me to identify a necklace burnt beyond recognition which belonged to our sister Mary. When I said this, my mam fell to the floor screaming. My poor dad tried to catch her, but he couldn’t. I was crying really badly and looking at my poor mam and dad was really horrible. My mam started shouting ‘Mary, Martina where are you? Mary, Martina I’m here! Please not my Mary and Martina, not my Mary and Martina’.

When we got home, my brother John was waiting and the younger children were asleep. When John heard the news he was inconsolable.

That day changed the family and we have never been the same since. Our happy family days were gone. Our happy family home was gone.

We are all heart broken and miss Martina so very much still to this day. We remember Mary, Antoinette, John and Martina leaving together to meet up with all their friends that night. It has still left a big dark hole in our life that we will never see Mary, Martina, Mary Kenny or David Morton ever again. Martina had all her hopes and dreams for the rest of her life, but all her hopes and dreams were dashed with the Stardust fire.

Mary, Martina and Mary Kenny didn’t get out that night. Martina’s boyfriend David did, but when he could not find Martina he went back in to save her and he also died in the Stardust disaster.

The families of the 48 victims of the Stardust fire have never been the families they were before, and they never will be again. The Keegan family lost everything that day, and life has never been the same for us. The Stardust not only killed our beautiful sisters Mary and Martina, but in the loss of their daughters it also killed our dad John Keegan and our mam Christine Keegan as well.

Martina had brought a Valentine’s card with her that Friday 13th February night to give to David and it was found floating around in water outside the burned-out shell of the Stardust on Saturday 14th February 1981. It was entitled “The Last Valentine” by the media when it was found. I am going to read the verse out now which Martina wrote for her boyfriend David Morton. Their true love was forever.

The Last Valentine

By Martina Keegan

Oh Father up in Heaven, Oh Lord up above,

Please guide and protect the guy that I Love,

Keep him from danger, save him from fear,

Show me the way his actions to steer,

You know Lord, I love him with all my heart,

So keep us together never to part,

But if this guy should ever leave me,

When he gets to heaven, please tell him for me, I love him forever.

But if I am first to rise above, please give him a message, a sign of love,

Written in marker, (pen sorry) sealed with a kiss,

His name is David, the guy that I miss.

(When you’re not around)

Keegan, Mary– Damien Keegan

My name is Damien Keegan. I am the youngest brother to Mary and Martina Keegan who were both killed in the Stardust disaster. I will speak here today on behalf of my sisters, Antoinette, Lorraine, Suzanne and brothers, John, and Neville. I want to give you an insight and portrait of how beautiful, dearly loved and very special are sisters Mary and Martina were to us all. Here I will speak about my oldest sister, Mary Keegan RIP.

Our sisters’ names were Mary Teresa Keegan, aged 19, and Martina Elaine Keegan, aged 16. They were both real people, truly loved by their mam Christine Keegan RIP, their dad John Keegan RIP and all of us their brothers and sisters.

Mary was the eldest of eight children, she was born on the 14th of June 1961 in Saint Mary’s hospital in Manchester and this year, our sister Mary would have been celebrating her 60th birthday had she not been killed.

Our sister Mary was really beautiful inside and out, she had the most outstanding looks, a real-life look-a-like of Farrah Fawcett Majors, right down to her hairstyle.

She was a loving, caring, compassionate, fun loving, very sociable, but shy at heart, witty and extremely intelligent sister we were all blessed to have in our family. We have so many wonderful and beautiful memories of her and simply not enough time to express all here today.

Mary was our older sister, she was not only our big sister, but she was also a best friend to us all and would keep our secrets of mischief. She was like a teacher at home also, if we got into difficulties with our homework, she was always so willing to help us and show us the easy solution to getting the answers right.

Although Mary loved each and every one of us, we can’t let this day go by not saying when I, Damian Keegan the youngest brother and baby of the family was born, Mary and Martina idolised me as did all of my sisters and brothers, but there was a very special bond between Mary and myself.

She really loved me so much and there was never a day that would go by when she was leaving work that she would ever forget to buy me something to bring home to me. It may have been a cake, a bar of chocolate, or clothing but she always had a thought for me with a little treat.

I would be sitting on the doorstep in the front garden, every day, waiting for Mary to walk up the path.

Mary won the overall student of the year Cadbury’s Scholarship on the 15th of March 1977 and was presented with a certificate, £25 (which was a lot of money back then), a box of chocolates and a tour around Cadbury’s Factory in Coolock. Mary loved school, she was a fantastic pupil, every teacher she had over the years extended great credit about her to our parents at all the parent teacher meetings that they would both attend.

Mary sat and completed her intermediate certificate in 1977 and achieved excellent results with six honours and two passes, she further went on to do her leaving certificate in 1979 and once again she gained the best results with all honours. To say she was ecstatic would have been an understatement, everything Mary worked so hard to achieve she got, and she was so looking forward to the rest of her life in such a very positive way. She had great ambitions and wanted so much to get every goal she set her mind on doing. It was always going to be onwards and upwards for Mary’s every step forward for the rest of her life.

Mary left school and went on to further herself once again, this time she secured of course in typing. Mary always classed this as her first ever job, although it was only to last six weeks. She was delighted that at last not only was she progressing with more achievements to add to her curriculum vitae for employment for her future, but she was also being paid for this and she wanted so much to contribute money to our parents as part of a wage to help the household.

After Mary completed this course, she went on to get a brilliant job in RTV Rentals, Northside Shopping Centre, Coolock. Her job title there was Receptionist-Sales Assistant-Cashier. She started this job on the 2nd of August 1979 and loved her employment and the colleagues she worked with. She continued to work there right up until Friday the 13th – Saturday the 14th 1981 when she was killed in the Stardust disaster.

Mary had lots of love for life and thinking back, happiness was paramount at the top of her list. Her hobbies included reading, writing, music, cooking, and travelling. She had so many dreams for her future and wanted to fulfil them all in their entirety. While Mary was working in RTV Rentals, every opportunity she got of doing overtime she took for she had one big desire to give extra money to our parents to help them as they had helped her so much to reach her goals for all her achievements, and so she did.

Mary loved travelling and adventures, her first holiday was in 1977. Her class had been picked to travel to France as they were all studying the French language and coincidentally to Mary’s surprise and delight, there was to be another class chosen for this holiday. The class nominated was Mary’s younger brother John’s class. They all travelled to France on the Saint Killeen ship and had the best holiday ever.

Almost every long weekend would be special to Mary, Antoinette, Mary Kenny who also died in the Stardust and their friend Helen. They would always go on a weekend to Rush, Co Dublin and spend the weekend in a mobile home. They were just having the fun of their life, they had really great times together. They all decided as they were in full time jobs that they would go and save for an overseas holiday.

They travelled from Dublin Airport with Aer Lingus and flew to England in the month of August 1980. They stayed with my Ma’s sister Rosaleen and her husband John in their bungalow in Sussex. They had the holiday of a lifetime, they visited lots of places including those of historic heritage. Before they came home, they went to the joke shops which they had never seen before in Ireland and decided they would bring some souvenirs home to have more laughs with their families. When they arrived home, they all made a decision that they would save up and go on another holiday following the summer of 1981. But this was not to be as Friday the 13th to Saturday the 14th of February 1981 put an end to all their future plans as Mary Keegan our sister, Mary Kenny their best friend and Martina Keegan our sister all died in the Stardust disaster.

My Dad John Keegan RIP worked in Cadbury’s on nights as a fitter’s mate. On Friday 13th while my Dad was working on his night shift, a colleague came up to him, to tell him about the Stardust going on fire, which he had heard on a news bulletin on the radio.

My dad went straight home and as he drove his car into the garden, he noticed the porch light was still on, and this rang alarm bells for him. As in our house there was a rule last one in turns off the porch light. My dad went straight up the stairs checked the boy’s room where my brother John was there, then into my mam where she was sleeping and woke her and asked her was the girl’s home, my mother didn’t know what was going on and ran into their bedroom where there were 3 empty beds. My mam got dressed and they both went to the Stardust, which I have heard them talk about so much, they couldn’t believe what they saw, the Stardust was still on fire. They panicked and were told by the Garda to check all hospitals, which they did and only found my sister Antoinette.

They spent all day Saturday and Sunday in the City Morgue and at 6pm they were handed two plastic bags, one containing Mary’s necklace burned beyond recognition with broken links and the other containing Martina’s rings also burned beyond recognition, the only identification visible was the signet ring which still bore the initials MK and the claddagh ring.

This was their worst nightmare, but it was reality. My mother asked could she see her daughters and was told by the Garda the coffin is closed, to just remember them the way they were.

After the Stardust, our house was never the same again. There was nothing but arguments, we grew up never known sadness, our house was always a very happy home. We were all falling apart, no one there to help us. We depended on our parents to keep us together, but they were falling apart with grief. At night time we would all hear the sounds of our ma and da crying. It was heart breaking for us all.

I would sit on our doorstep and wait for my sister to come home every day for months after Mary was killed. I was only three and a half and couldn’t understand why Mary never came home or walked up the path again. As I was very young, I did not understand what was going on. I remember the day of the funerals for Mary and Martina. My Mam asked her neighbour across the road to mind me, my sister Suzanne, and my brother Neville. My Mam done this because we were too young to go the funeral. I still recall looking out the front window of our neighbours house and seeing the funeral cars outside our house. I said to my sister Suzanne and brother Neville, look over at our house, there is a wedding on. I as a child never seena funeral – always seen weddings – and we would all run out for the grushy of the money being thrown up in the air.

For years later, I would ask my Mam and Dad where is Mary and Martina. My Mam told me that they were working for Holy God up in Heaven. I would ask “What is it like up there?” My Mam told me it is like Butlins. I would rely, “Can we go visit them? When are they coming back?” As I was getting home and our family home was like a hotel for families of the deceased victims calling to speak to my parents and survivors and the media turning up it was like a studio. I then became aware that Mary and Martina had been killed in the Stardust. It broke my hearts, as I believed one day my sisters would come home but they never came home.

Growing up as young children to teenagers, we never witnessed our da crying, we always believed our da was the strong man he was but seeing him falling apart and trying to hide his grief was sole destroying for our ma and all of us.

On 21st February 1981, a meeting was organised to be held in the local pub the Black Sheep, all the families of the deceased victims turned up and the parents of the survivors also. A committee was elected called the Stardust Relatives Committee, the formation of this committee was parents of the deceased victims and also siblings. While progress was being made, my dad didn’t think it was happening soon enough, as years were going by. Then one day, while we were all sitting at home in the sitting room, my da said, “Chrissie I am going to set up a new Committee, I am done with listening to all that is getting said like John you cannot rock the boat, sit still, be quiet and so on,” the frustration got to my da. So, he drove to the Camelot Hotel, met the owner Mr. Adam Farrelly and asked could he have a function room for a meeting about Stardust. Mr. Farrelly obliged him free of charge. The meeting took place on the 5th of May 1985 where hundreds turned up, my da was unanimously elected as Chairman for the new committee, this was called the Stardust Victims Committee. It was then, everything started to move.

I commend my da to this day for everything he done for the deceased and the living, he fought it all right up to his dying breath.

My ma then took over the position of chairperson, I say it here today with great pride for such a small, beautiful lady, the strength, courage, and determination she displayed was outstanding. She feared no one, she stood tall for one thing only, this was truth and justice. My ma was instrumental in getting the Government to do the External Independent Examination in 2008, also the last review with retired Judge Pat Mc Cartan.

Then her biggest achievement she honoured to have been involved, was the launch of the Stardust Truth Postcard campaign, this took place outside Dail Eireann with Lynn Boylan and Enda Fanning, on her daughter Mary’s birthday, 14^th June 2018. This was to have 48,000 postcards signed by the public to hand deliver to the Attorney General. My ma travelled along with myself and other families North, South, East, and West of Ireland setting up stalls and the people of Ireland came to us, signed the postcards and before we knew it, we had exceeded our time limit which was all thanks to the public for our support. On the 20th of November we hand delivered the 48,000 Truth postcards with great support from Christy Moore and the public as hundreds turned out this day. The nation had spoken, and it was clear it was in the public interest to have the inquest re-opened.

Then in February 2020, after the 39^th anniversary on St Valentine’s Day, my mam took sick and passed away on the 14th of July 2020. As she lay in her bed dying, she was persistently asking us the one big question which meant so much to her, all she wanted to know was when the inquest is happening.

We had to tell my mam a white lie to comfort her while she was dying, we had to

say to my mam “it is happening very soon ma”.

My mam died without knowing when the inquest was going to happen, it was three weeks after she passed away it was announced. It is heart-breaking that due to the passage of time our ma is not present here today, after all she done to get us to this place today. Another achievement my ma got was the reopening of the Stardust inquest.

We would like to read an extract out here today on behalf of my late ma, it was before she took sick, she put pen to paper, she was determined that she was going to read this out when the day of judgement for Truth and Justice was here. This is what she wrote.

Christine Keegan dated 10th July 2019

As a mother of two very precious daughters, who were struck down in their teenage years and burned to death. I would. Like to say a few words about the way we have been treated from 1981- 2019.

The morning of the 14th of February is a morning I will never forget. I was woke by my husband John to tell me that the Stardust had gone on fire, I checked the girl’s bedroom and found their beds empty.

I got dressed and went to the stardust with my husband, when I got there, I could not believe what I saw, it was like out of a horror film, but this was reality.

There was fire men and ambulance men carrying stretchers with body bags on them, never in my wildest dreams did I think my daughters were among them.

The police told us to check the hospitals, and so we did, we checked Jervis Street, the Master, the Richmond, the Meath, St. James Hospital and finally Dr. Steevens hospital where we found Antoinette, we were told she was there and passed her bed twice, we could not believe when we saw her, she was not able to breathe, she was on life support machine and a priest had just anointed her, while we were there. Antoinette was unrecognisable, she could see us, but could not say anything, we assured her she will be ok. When we were leaving the hospital in search for our two other daughters, the doctor called myself and my husband John and told us it would be 50/50 if Antoinette would survive as her left lung had collapsed and there was quite a lot of damage on the other one. Although we were delighted to find Antoinette our hopes were dashed with the thoughts of losing her.

We felt relieved we had found Antoinette, we thought Mary and Martina have to be in another hospital. We went on to search St. Vincent’s hospital, which was our last hope, they were not there. We could not find them, so we went to Coolock Garda Station, and we were told to go to Dublin Castle, where we were then told to go to the City Morgue and at 6pm we were given two little plastic bags. One containing Mary’s necklace and the other Martina’s rings. This was all I had to identify my beautiful daughters, he said the coffin is closed, remember them the way they were.

We buried Mary and Martina on the 18th of February 1981. The Stardust tore our family apart, it has to be the saddest thing for any parent to have to bury their child, it was the worst day of my life. After the funeral I had to go home, change from my mourning clothes, and go visit my daughter Antoinette who survived and tell her lies to keep her alive. I had to tell her Mary and Martina were doing great and were asking for her. This we were able to do for 2 weeks, then a priest told her out of no harm, he did not know she was not aware both her sisters had been killed.

The Stardust Fire took all our happy family days away from us, it took away all our belief in faith and it took away our trust with successive Government’s over the years. We felt abandoned and all alone and left like lambs to a slaughter, everything brushed under the carpet, to keep the trust hidden. I would like to ask a question to the Government, the establishment, and its agencies. What did we families of the deceased victims of the Stardust fire ever do on the government, to deserve this ill treatment and constant systematic abuse we have sustained for the past 38 years?

Although I was born in England, I am an Irish citizen, I love my country, but I dislike my successive governments and their establishments since 1981. I am ashamed I am an Irish citizen for what they did to all us families of the deceased victims of the Stardust Disaster 14th February 1981.”

I live in hope and pray for truth and justice for the 48 and for my Mam and Dad.

Unfortunately, my mam didn’t live for this day to come as she sadly passed away on the 14th of July 2020, leaving us all heartbroken. We miss her so much, she held us all together through thick and thin, she was the most beautiful mother, we were blessed to have a trojan of a woman for truth and justice. Although we can never walk our mams walk, or stand in her shoes, we will continue in order to get truth and justice in loving memory of our beloved mam and dad as well as our two sisters.

Kelly, Robert – Antoinette Keegan

My name is Antoinette Keegan. I have been asked by the family of Robert Kelly who was killed in the Stardust fire, to give this pen portrait of him. I am privileged to do this on behalf of the Kelly family. I do it in honour of Robert’s brother Eugene, who was a dear friend of mine for over two decades. If Eugene was alive, it would have meant so much to him to speak, here, today, about his brother Robert whom he loved so much.

Robert was born on the 28th of January 1964, in Dublin. He was the youngest child to William and Theresa Kelly who had five boys and four girls. They lived in an end terrace house in Edenmore Crescent.  I have heard so many stories over the years from Eugene about Robert. 

As a child, Robert was a beautiful lad. He was a bit of a character in a lot of ways and one way was how he came to be called Spikey Kelly. It’s funny because he gave himself his own nickname which then stuck with him growing up, until his untimely death.

He nicknamed himself Spikey, because of his hair, as it used to be very spikey.  Eugene used to gel his hair and spike it.  Robert copied his brothers hair style. 

Robert attended St. Malachy’s Primary School in Edenmore, then progressed to Killester College Secondary School, to do his inter-cert. After leaving secondary school Robert, got a job working on the B & I boats. His plan was to stay working on the boats, as he loved this job.

Although there was 6 years between Eugene and Robert, they were very close as brothers. Not only were they close as brothers, but they were best friends too and Eugene was always very protective of his little brother. They both worked on the B & I ships, but Robert was on the Stena Line, while Eugene was on the Leinster or the Munster so they would have been on different shifts and different ports.

Robert loved music, the first bands that he followed was the Bay City Rollers. As time went on, he started to like the Sex Pistols, Sham 69, the Undertones, the Specials, and Blondie. Robert had lots of hobbies and one of his favourite hobbies was embroidery. He just loved doing this. He had a Wrangler jacket that he loved wearing and he had done embroidery all over it. He loved it even more after he finished it with his personal touch of embroidery.

As the youngest of 9 children, Robert was idolized by his Mammy, his Daddy, his brothers, his sisters, his nephews, his nieces, his godchild Mandy (this was Eugene’s daughter), his aunts, his uncles, his cousins, his friends and all the neighbours. Everyone loved Robert and he loved everyone, but he had one person that he particularly loved and adored and that was his Mammy. The love Robert had for his mammy was unconditional love.

Shortly before he was killed in the Stardust, he went to town and bought a boat for his Mam for a present. A few days later, on the 28th of January 1981, Robert’s birthday, just two weeks before the Stardust fire, he used money his sister gave him as a birthday present to go into town to get the John Lennon record, “Woman”, and handed it straight to his Mammy, saying “I bought you a present”. He gave her a present on his own birthday. He idolized his mammy.

Robert celebrated his birthday later that day with his friends. They had a few cans of drinks at the railway track, celebrating Robert turning 17, with a bit of banter and a laugh.

On the weekend that he was killed in the Stardust, Robert was due to work on the ship, but it went into dry dock, giving him the week off. He got himself ready to go to the Stardust. His friend, Paul Nolan, lived right next door, so the two of them made their way to the Stardust together. As they approached the Stardust, Robert was stopped and was refused entrance by a bouncer, as he looked young. Paul Nolan declined to go in without him. They both sat on the wall outside for a while, then joined the queue again, and were allowed in. They paid their £3.00 entrance fee, they were searched and then went to the bar and bought pints.

Paul Nolan recalls the last time Robert Kelly was seen alive was at the Stardust; he was standing in front of the stage with Michael Barret while Michael was bending over helping the DJ with the records. They were laughing and joking. Then they noticed the fire.

There was huge panic with people trying to get out. It was like a horror scene from a movie but it was real.

Paul Nolan got out that night through the main door. He looked for Robert, running around outside with his other friends Michael Seery, Joe Brown, Pearse Godfrey and Paddy Nolan. Paul was then told to get in an ambulance, and he was brought to the Mater Hospital.

Paul panicked and ran away from the hospital. The driver of a passing car notice his burnt clothes and offered to bring him home. When Paul got out of the man’s car he ran next door, straight into the Kelly’s house, banging the door down till Mr. & Mrs. Kelly opened the door and asked what all the commotion was. Paul kept pleading with them to go check if Robert was in his room, but Robert’s bed was empty. Robert never came home.

Mr. & Mrs. Kelly didn’t know what to do, as they panicked. They went looking for Robert, couldn’t find him, and then tried to contact their other son, Eugene, who was working on the boats that night. Eugene was called to the captain of the ship and was told to ring home immediately, as it was an emergency. Eugene rang his parents from the boat and was told there had been a fire in the Stardust, Robert was there, and he hasn’t been found yet. Getting home as fast as he could, Eugene drove his Gold Ford Cortina to all the hospitals in Dublin. He always recalled how, as he drove the car into the driveway, he could hear the roars and crying of his Mam and Dad coming from the house. They were hysterical. He tried to comfort them by saying it isn’t confirmed that Robert is dead.

Reality was coming closer to Eugene, as he was told by the Guards to go to the morgue. Eugene dreaded this. He went to the morgue, and it was confirmed that Robert had been killed in the Stardust. He was later identified by dental records, a few days later.

Over the years of knowing Eugene Kelly as a great friend, a bereaved family member who lost a loved one in the Stardust, and also a Committee member, he would tell me different stories about his brother Robert.

Eugene told me that, just three weeks before Robert was killed in The Stardust, Robert was lying on his bed and had an out-of-body experience, he could see himself dying and said “I am going to die young”, “I am not afraid of death”. Eugene said Robert spoke about this right up to the night of the Stardust, 14th of February 1981.

When it was confirmed that Robert had died, one of Robert’s Aunts contacted his favourite band, the English punk band, ‘Sham 69’. When she contacted the band’s frontman, Jimmy Pursey, and told him the news, the Kelly family received a wreath from Jimmy Pursey for Robert’s funeral. The family thought it was a beautiful gesture for Robert. Twenty years later, Eugene and Robert’s friend who survived the stardust, Paul Nolan, met ‘Sham 69’ in Temple Bar and Jimmy Pursey remembered all about the Kelly family.

After Robert Kelly’s funeral, the Kelly family were never the same again. It broke the hearts of Mr. & Mrs. Kelly, poor Eugene.  He couldn’t accept it at all.  They could not accept they would never see Robert again and as he lay in a closed coffin they were told to remember him as he was.  I recall being on the Miriam O’Callaghan radio show with my late mam and Eugene.  As Eugene spoke about his brother Robert he got very emotional describing his brother’s body, saying there was notning left of him. 

Robert had been saving all his money to go on a holiday to Spain, and I always recall Eugene saying that his mother had always said “Poor Robert was saving for his holiday, but little did he know he was saving for his funeral, as he never got a chance to go on his holiday.”

It is clear from talking to the late Eugene Kelly, his daughter Mandy who was Robert’s godchild , and his family over the years that they are still hurting from Robert’s death. 

I would like to take this opportunity to thank them for sharing their stories with me to do this portrait of their beloved brother, Robert. I would also like to thank Paul Nolan, Robert Kelly’s friend, for sharing his stories about the great friendship he had with Robert.

Finally, I wish it was Robert’s brother, Eugene Kelly, who was reading this portrait of Robert here, today. I hope and pray that Robert, his Mammy, his Daddy, and Eugene are happy that this portrait is true to the beautiful boy, Robert, who had his whole life ahead of him and was taken too young.

Kelly, Robert – Mandy Kelly

My name is Mandy Kelly, the daughter of the late Eugene Kelly who stood tall for justice and fought for truth for the 48 who died in the Stardust fire – among whom was his brother, my uncle, Robert.

I was 13 months old when Robert died in the Stardust fire. He wasn’t just my uncle, he was my godfather. I never got to know him but since I was a child I grew up hearing stories about him and always remember there was a framed photo on the wall in our house of Robert, I was always told he was my godfather and was always watching over me and protecting me. Robert was born on 28^th of January 1964, pre-deceased by his brother Richard, who died aged 8 years of age of a brain haemorrhage which was a major loss to the Kelly family in 1961, 3 years before Robert’s birth.

Robert was the youngest and I’ve been told the apple of his mother’s eye. She idolised him as he idolised her and I’ve been told that he was a real mammy’s boy. He adored his mother, Theresa. He was spoilt and got anything he wanted – but not in a spoilt brat way, he had a great respect for everyone he knew. I was told by many people that he was a very special person, he was different and was always smiling and laughing. I remember my nana telling me that she never got over his death and was on Prozac since his death in the Stardust and I believe still on them up to the day she died in 2011.

He was very close to my father Eugene, his brother,  and looked up to him and wanted to be just like him. He would spike his hair to look like his brother. Due to his hairstyle he got the nickname Gunky, and he later changed his nickname himself to Spikey due to his large spikey hairstyle.

When my parents married in 1977, Robert was 13 years old. He was dressed in his confirmation suit. He danced with my mother on the dance floor and said to her, ‘’You should have waited for me and I would have married you”. My mam always remembers the innocence of this young child.

He used to babysit me and my brother and was so proud to be an uncle to his many nieces and nephews. He was so excited and honoured to stand for me, his god daughter, when I was born in January 1980. Sadly, I never got to know my godfather – only through other people’s memories and stories of him.

I happen to work with a man that went to school with Robert and told me many stories of them growing up and told me some funny stories. Robert was addicted to Coca-cola and would drink of bottle of cola every day. He would hide a bottle of cola inside his jacket or up his sleeve and run out the door hoping his mother wouldn’t see. Although his mother bought him the bottles of cola, she would also give out to him for drinking so much and tell him that he would lose all his teeth for drinking too much cola. Ironically, he was identified in the aftermath of the stardust fire by his dental records.

He was very artistic and creative. He learned how to sew and embroidered pictures onto his clothing. He really took an interest in this and purchased a sewing kit. He was a big fan of the Sham69’s , he loved Jimmy Pursey and embroidered Jimmy Pursey’s face onto one of his denim wrangler jackets. He was so talented, he would make a picture with thread.

Apparently, he was quite psychic and proved this by predicting things that would actually happen. I remember my grandmother telling me that roughly 3 weeks before the stardust tragedy that Robert came into her and randomly said ‘Ma, I’m not going to be old when I die, I’m going to die young’. He said it so casually and he had an out of body experience around this time. He also told friends that he one night, while asleep in his friend’s house, he was awoken by a bright light outside the window. His friend in another room experienced this bright light too. It wasn’t a street light or a car light, it was described by him as just a bright unidentified light. A few weeks later after all these strange occurrences, Robert perished in the stardust fire tragedy.

After Robert left school he went to work on the B&I boats as a steward. He loved his job , week on week off, with his two brothers Alan and Eugene. The night of the stardust disco, he was due to work but really wanted to go the valentine’s ball disco as there was a big dancing competition taking place and all his friends were going. He managed to get out of going to work and was so excited. Off he went to the Stardust, full of life.

As a young child, I remember my father always depressed and always crying, and I was too young to understand why a strong grown man was crying. My father eventually got so depressed he couldn’t get out of this depressed state and decided to end his own life. He said he just couldn’t live with the pain any longer. He had a nervous breakdown and was hospitalised for 2 weeks.

He said the pain never went away.

My parents’ marriage broke down, as did many marriages following the strain of the hurt and pain caused through the stardust disaster.  My own life and my siblings’ were badly affected by my father’s ways. My family suffered too and I went through a dark period after my parents separation and had to go for counselling. Over the years, I had an on off relationship with my father. I was very close to him though , he confided in me and treated me more like a friend than a daughter. He cried and was a very emotional person, I knew Robert’s death took my dad’s life away. My dad was like a lost child, that never grew up, he lived in the shadow of the Stardust.

Stardust became his life, all he wanted was his brother back, but knew this would never happen so fought long and hard for justice.

I am very sad that 42 years on I am here today to stand in my father Eugene’s place to read out a pen portrait of an uncle and godfather that I never knew, never got a chance to know. Robert would have been due to celebrate his 60^th birthday this coming January but, through no fault of his own, he never got the chance live. He may have been married with children, grandchildren, but he never got that chance.

The last time anyone seen my father Eugene alive was on at the first hearing of the inquest on 14^th October 2020 outside the coroner’s court in Dublin. He fought endlessly for truth and justice and sadly he is not here today to see that all his effort and hard work over the years has paid off. He passed away 5 days later of a heart attack, which I also believe was a broken heart. I believe he couldn’t take all the pressure and stress of the Stardust, he choose to just go to heaven to be with Robert.