Introduction
My name is Angela Kenny, and I am the youngest sister of Mary Kenny. I was only fifteen years old when my sister Mary was tragically killed in the Stardust fire on the 14th of February 1981. I have lived with the tragedy from that night for over forty years now. I was a happy-go-lucky youngest child in a very happy family. We were not financially well-off but were very united as a family and happy. Our mam was there every day looking after us with breakfast dinner and tea. We were always well cared for and loved.
Background
Mary was a much-loved daughter, sister, and friend. She was a kind, funny and popular girl who had just turned 19 the month before. She was the eldest daughter of Sarah and Michael Kenny and big sister to Carol, Paul, and Angela. Mary was a wonderful big sister, and always looked after us in school. She was always there to look after us and stand up for us when older kids picked on us. She was very popular with her school friends, both in Primary and Secondary school. She attended Maria Goretti Primary School in Bonnybrook and Colaiste Dhulaigh Technical school Coolock. She had a lovely group of friends when she left Colsiste Dhulaigh and they all remained friends. Some of them also died in the Stardust Fire on that terrible night.
When she left school her very first job was working as a receptionist in Briggs & McCrae in town. Mary loved her job and was very well liked by the people she worked with. She had only just started on her career and had her whole life ahead of her. She was so young when she died but she was very determined to do her best in any position and would have succeeded in any job she had in the future. Unfortunately, she never got that opportunity.
She was a very kind girl and was very close to our elderly aunt that lived on her own in town. She would cycle all the way from Coolock into town just to make sure she was okay and had everything she needed. She did that trip every week for years.
Our great aunt was devastated when she came to our house the morning of the 14th of February and found out her darling Mary had died in the fire. She was never the same again and grieved for her until the day she died.
Mary didn't drink or smoke; her passions in life were dancing and fashion and she would look forward to going to The Stardust nightclub on a Friday night just to dance all night with her friends. To pursue this love of dancing, she had just bought a new pair of dancing shoes for the lessons she was taking.
She also loved music, Queen, Marc Bolan (T Rex) & Barry Manilow were her favourite groups and she followed Leeds United football team.
On the Friday evening before she left home for the last time, we were all sitting in the kitchen with our mam laughing and talking about who had received Valentine’s cards. Mary was sitting with me guessing who had sent me my first Valentine’s card. I wanted her to help me write a valentine’s card because she was older and knew the verses to use. She said she was getting ready to go out and she would help me in the morning. She was trying to persuade Carol, our other sister, to go with her that night. Fortunately, Carol was saving for a holiday she had booked with her friends.
She was very happy going out the door that night and called around for her friend Mary Keegan. She said she would see us later.
They were our last happy memories of Mary.
Stardust Fire
Our nightmare started when Paul rushed in, distressed, at around 1.50am. We were all in bed. We got up in a fright and he was shouting repeatedly to ask if Mary was home. From that time on, our lives were never the same. I remember it was bitterly cold, frosty, and dark out and we had to throw on whatever clothes we could find. We didn’t have a car, so we had to walk all the way to Coolock Garda station in the cold, not knowing what had happened. The Garda station was in chaos with countless people looking for news of their loved ones. At that time no one had any idea what tragedy had happened to their friends and family. We were told by the Gardai to go home and check with the hospitals. The hospitals had no record of Mary. We had to wait at home until we heard some news. Our parents were distraught with fear and my mother was checking with neighbours to see if anyone had seen Mary. They did not know what to do. We were all hoping and praying that Mary would walk through the front door.
A couple of days later, my sister Carol was asked to go to the city morgue to identify Mary’s jewellery; a deeply upsetting task. She had only bought her a silver ring for her birthday a few weeks before. She identified the ring and wristwatch she was wearing that night, and they were all black from the fire. A day later we were told officially by the Gardai that Mary was one of the deceased. Our family could not take it in, we were all in shock, totally devastated, and it slowly dawned on us that we would never see our lovely sister again. A lot of what happened is hard to remember as we were all in shock. The funeral was so sad I don’t know how we all got through it.
Since then
Our dad died two years later. He was broken hearted over his eldest daughter’s tragic and untimely death. Our mam’s life changed completely. She went from having a happy family to losing her eldest daughter and her husband within two years. She was left to pick up the pieces with a broken heart. She visited the grave every weekend for years and never got over the loss. She was diagnosed with breast cancer eight years later. She passed away in 2004.
Our sister Mary has missed so many family celebrations over the years and we have missed her and what her life would have been like. There is always a sadness in our family, and we were always afraid as a family that we would lose our mother as well.
My sister is always overly protective of her children especially when they were going out as teenagers. She always had that worry that something awful would happen to them. Always worrying about them.
Our brother Paul who had gone to the Stardust dance that night still cannot talk about it as he is still traumatised by what he saw. We just thank God every day that he got out alive.
I feel it has affected me a lot over the years. I was so young at the time and would give anything to go back to that night we were all laughing and happy and stop Mary going to the Stardust dance.
It has affected all our lives over the years, we dread it every year when it comes around to St. Valentine ’s Day reliving the tragedy, it only brings us back to that awful night we lost our sister Mary.
Our mother passed away in 2004 without ever getting the justice her daughter Mary deserved.
Conclusion
We hope as a family that after these inquests our sister Mary and her friend Mary Keegan and all the victims of the Stardust Tragedy can rest in peace and we as a family can have closure after over forty years.
