Margaret Kiernan (19), from Coolock, was a sports enthusiast who excelled at soccer, hockey, and basketball. She adored music and getting glammed up for a night on the town.
Introduction
My sister's name was Margaret. I’m James, her older brother.
Background
Margaret had babysat for me and Susan, minding our newborn first girl (the only one she got to meet). My memories of her are all of having fun and talking to her about her love of sports and going out with her friends. Margaret had a vast number of friends. Many of them through her love of sports and socialising. Her best friends were Rosie, Liz, Adrian, and Sandra. But her best friend is still to this day Deidre who is still very close to my mother, me and John.
Here are Deirdre’s memories of Margaret:
Deirdre and Margaret met in primary school and became best friends. Both were fans of sports including soccer, hockey, basketball and both excelled in all three. As they grew up together, discos and trips out for the day became as important as the sports. Margaret loved her makeup and dressing up for any occasion. Deirdre fondly remembers their first trip to town on their own. A visit to the cinema followed by a burger and chips in the steak house on O’Connell Street. This started their love of discos and meeting up with friends.
Margaret had a love of music and used to scream out a version of Roxanne. Like most young girls, she dreamed of just being happy, getting married and having children. And moving into a house next to Deirdre.
Stardust Fire
The night of the Stardust fire was the night it broke our family. Me and my brother John spent the following days searching hospitals and then the morgue, hoping against hope. Maybe she was still alive.
Since then
The funeral brought it home. We were never going to see our baby sister again. My parents at the time were inconsolable and suicidal. They were never the same people after that terrible night.My father returned to work after a very long absence. I worked in the same section in Dublin Airport. One day, an airport police officer who vaguely knew my dad stopped me and, not knowing I was his son, asked me how he was doing. I didn’t get a chance to answer. He just said he looks like his soul has been sucked out. I asked him how he would feel if his daughter had died in horrific circumstances. People outside the family and close friends could have no idea the effect it was having and continues to have to this day.
Our mother is still alive today at the age of 91. There’s not a single day where she doesn’t speak about Margaret and there are tears most of the time.As for me, it was a pleasure to have had her in my life (the short time that it was). Although the rest of my daughters never got to meet Margaret, they all feel that they knew her well. My brother’s family are the same, as they like mine were all brought up with Margaret’s memory.
My brother John has the following to say:
My name is John Kiernan, older brother of Margaret. I don’t have any great memories of Margaret when we were very young as I really only started to get to know her from when she was in her mid-teens, and I would have been in my late teens. She would have had a wide circle of friends from her school pals to her football pals, and she had recently started work and was quite popular even though she was the new girl in the job. Ironically, her job was based in Butterly Park. Margaret introduced me to a lot of her friends and in fact encouraged myself and my now wife to date.
Margaret used to travel to Glasgow a lot and stay with family over there and I understand she had a few friends over in Glasgow. Even now, some 40 years after her death, some of her friends stay in touch with the family.
The night Margaret was killed my mother and father had their lives taken from them also. The spirit went from both of them and they would never be the same people again. For me it was like role reversal at 21 years of age, wondering what I would be coming home to where both parents took heavy to drink and tranquilisers, listening to their sorrow for months on end. Thankfully, they both came out the other side, albeit heartbroken. I am sure our story is not unique among the victim’s families.
My own upset, as I said at the start of this, is that I was really only getting to know Margaret on adult terms, and you wonder what would have been. She is often mentioned in family conversations and asked about by my children, but having never met her, stories and photos are all we have to share with them.
So, my biggest regret is that after 41 years, that we still are searching for justice. As was pointed out recently, if this happened in a more affluent area the case would have been solved at the outset.
