At 11 a.m., a large number of us marched to the Office of the Attorney General, Mr. Séamus Woulfe, to deliver an astonishing 48,000 signed postcards asking for a new inquest into the Stardust tragedy of 14 February 1981. Those 48,000 signatures are the culmination of the heroic Truth campaign begun by the Stardust Relatives and Victims Committee, which has been courageously led over the years by Ms Antoinette Keegan, her mother Chrissie, Ms Gertrude Barrett, Ms Bridget McDermott and Mr. Eugene Kelly. I welcome them all to the Public Gallery today. We were accompanied by some distinguished Irish citizens, including the great musician Christy Moore, famous journalist Charlie Bird and many others. I commend our Sinn Féin colleagues and especially Ms Lynn Boylan, MEP, on her Trojan work with the committee on this campaign.

As the Taoiseach will remember, St. Valentine's Day 2019 will mark the 38th anniversary of the appalling Stardust nightclub tragedy. The horrific death of 48 young and mostly teenage citizens and the serious injury to another 225 young people was the worst fire disaster in modern Irish history and still affects many people in my constituency of Dublin Bay North. The families of these victims have never received justice or closure. We have had a litany of reports, most recently that of the former judge, Mr. Pat McCartan, in late 2017. For the past year, there has been a motion in my name on the clár of the Dáil, supported by colleagues from Independents 4 Change, People Before Profit, Solidarity and Sinn Féin, rejecting Judge McCartan's report.

Why has the Taoiseach not met the Stardust committee and its solicitor, the distinguished human rights lawyer from Newry, Mr. Darragh Mackin, despite their many requests to meet him on the campaign to reopen the inquest? The committee and its supporters have travelled the length and breadth of this country gathering signatures for the campaign. The 48,000 cards are addressed to Mr. Woulfe and call for a new inquest. They include the following statement:

The original inquest into the tragedy was held in March 1982, just over a year after the fire, when little detail was known about the events of that night. There is now much more detail which has exacerbated the rumour and suspicion surrounding the Stardust fire. It is time for truth for the Stardust victims. I call on you, as the Attorney General, to exercise your right under Section 24 of the Coroners Act 1962 to grant a fresh inquest as soon as possible.

The Taoiseach may remember that, early in this Dáil, I tabled a motion on establishing a new commission of investigation. It was defeated in January 2017 when the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, and the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Deputy Bruton, lacked the courage and bottle to insist on a new commission and instead put us through the pointless McCartan exercise, which was a much shorter rehash of the earlier Coffey report of 2009.

Constituents ask why Mr. Justice McCartan did not consider new testimony from witnesses like Mrs. Brenda Kelly who saw flames shooting from the roof at 1.43 a.m., from notable investigations including the book by Mr. Tony McCullagh and Neil Fetherstonhaugh and RTÉ’s "Prime Time Investigates" programme on the 20th anniversary or from other fire safety professionals and ordinary citizens who witnessed the fire.

Does the Taoiseach support this campaign? Does he agree that these families deserve truthful answers about what happened on that fateful night in 1981 and that they deserve justice and closure? Will he meet them and determine how he can progress this matter?

This relates to a campaign for a new inquest into the Stardust disaster. Once again I wish to express my condolences to the families and friends of those who died in that terrible tragedy. As the House will know there has already been an inquest and a full tribunal of inquiry into the Stardust tragedy. We must respect the fact that there are differences of opinion among families as to whether they want this to be reopened. I acknowledge the work of my colleague, the Minister, Deputy Finian McGrath, on this issue. He fought for and secured a commitment in the programme for Government to have the Stardust fire looked at afresh. Former judge Mr. Pat McCartan, a former Member of this House, carried out an inquiry. He acted independently and found that there was insufficient evidence to merit a reopening of this inquiry.

Under Article 30 of the Constitution, the Attorney General is the adviser to the Government in matters of law and legal opinion and has to exercise and perform all such powers, functions and duties under the law. One of the statutory powers conferred by the Oireachtas on the Attorney General in section 24 of the Coroners Act is that of directing the holding of an inquest. The Attorney General acts independently of Government in carrying out his or her role under this section and must do so in a manner that is impartial and fair to all. Section 24 provides that where the Attorney General has reason to believe that a person has died in circumstances which, in his or her opinion, make the holding of an inquest advisable, he or she may direct the coroner to hold an inquest into the death of that person. Where an inquest has already been held, which is the case here, and if a further inquest is to be granted, grounds would need to be set out for the holding of it. It would be expected that any formal request for a new inquest would set out the grounds on which the request is based.

KRW Law, the solicitors acting for the Stardust Relatives and Victims Committee, wrote to the Attorney General on 12 April stating that it was putting the Attorney General on notice of its intention to make a formal request to grant a new inquest into the Stardust deaths, pursuant to section 24 of the Coroners Act 1962. The letter indicated that KRW Law will proceed to lodge an application on behalf of its clients in the forthcoming weeks. This letter was acknowledged in a response from the Attorney General's private secretary. However, no such application or formal request to grant a new inquest has been made to date. In July and November of this year the Attorney General's office wrote to KRW Law noting that the Attorney General awaited the formal request under section 24 of the Coroners Act. In the office's November letter, clarification was sought as to who was instructing the clients of KRW Law solicitors. The office also asked for the grounds for any request to be stated. In July the office also acknowledged the receipt of emails sent by an architect with technical information about fire safety standards. The current position is that although the office has written to the solicitors on two occasions since receiving the initial letter on 12 April in anticipation of receiving a formal request, no such request under section 24 of the Coroners Act has been received. However, I spoke to the Attorney General this morning and once the request is made, he will give it full consideration and will look at it afresh with an open mind.

I welcome that commitment. Quite clearly under the Coroners Act, Mr. Séamus Woulfe has the power to order a second inquest and there is no doubt that the papers requesting that inquest, with detailed grounds, will be served on him in the coming weeks.

In Northern Ireland a new inquest has been ordered on approximately 56 different occasions. The inquest that was held into the Stardust tragedy dealt only with medical evidence of death and not with how the young people lost their lives. The Attorney General can expect the request soon and I ask the Taoiseach to liaise closely with him. It should be noted that the Stardust Relatives and Victims Committee, some of whom are in the Public Gallery today, have received strong support from the Hillsborough families and from the Justice for the 96 campaign.

Another striking feature of this morning was the massive support we received from the people of Derry and, indeed, there were some young women from Derry in The Stardust on that fateful night. Of course, that is very striking because, as the Taoiseach knows, the original Bloody Sunday inquiry by Lord Widgery was a whitewash and was overturned by the Saville inquiry. Is the Taoiseach committing to ask the Attorney General to grant and prioritise the holding of a new inquest and will he also commit to meet the committee and its solicitor, Mr. Mackin?

I deal with requests for meetings in the normal way, but it is not my practice to commit to meetings on the floor of the House. That would be unfair to the very many people who request meetings in the normal way.

It is within the power of the Attorney General, under the Coroners Act, to direct the holding of an inquest. However, it is not an untrammelled or discretionary power. There must be sufficient grounds for him to order a second inquest and, in doing so, he has to act independently of Government, so I cannot, nor should I, put undue pressure on him to do so.

I did speak to the Attorney General this morning about it as I was aware that the protest was happening today, and he has confirmed to me that, once he receives a request under section 28 for a second inquest, he will give it full consideration and look at it afresh.