Introduction
My name is Terry Jones, I am the sister of Murty (Murtagh) Kavanagh. I am here today to represent Murty on behalf of my deceased parents and extended family. Murty was a son, a brother, a grandson, a nephew, a cousin, a friend, and a neighbour.
We were a family of six and he was aged 27 when he died. Murty lived at home with our widowed father. In today's terms, Murty would have been considered our father’s carer. Murty was a caring, kind and generous person. He was good natured and ready to help no matter what was needed.
Background
Murty had several hobbies and interests, he enjoyed, cooking, fishing and music; he was a big Bob Dylan and Neil Young fan. He worked as a heating insulator, a job that took him around the country. He was a fan of the Dubs and Man United, he played GAA too but that was cut short when his job as a heating insulator meant he had to travel a lot throughout the country for work. He was a fan of the Dublin football team and also Man United.
He loved music, especially Bob Dylan and Neil Young. He had a good sense of humour and an infectious laugh. He had a very good nature and was always ready to assist if help was needed. Murty had lots of dreams and hopes for the future, and planned to get engaged, married and to have children with his partner Margaret Thornton (who perished in the fire also).
Stardust Fire
Murty was aged 27 and would often stay overnight at friend’s house at the weekends, when prior care would have been arranged for our father. On the day of the fire, my sister called to my father to check if Murty was home. He wasn’t. they discussed the awfulness of the fire, never thinking what they would face in the next twenty-four hours.
As I mentioned Murty would often stay overnight at a friend’s house, so this didn’t seem to be a concern, however they waited to hear from him and see if he would be home (no phones or means of communication in those days).
On Sunday morning Mrs Thornton arrived at our house to check if Margaret was there, sadly she wasn’t, and neither was Murty. What happened next was sheer panic, worry and concern for the two of them. It is hard to recall exactly what happened back then due to the utter shock we experienced.
My father and sister went directly to the Morgue in Store St, there they gave details of Murty and filled out identification forms. They made several trips to the morgue over the next few days, until Tuesday evening when the identification process was stopped at six pm. This was no doubt, a very distressing time. During one of the visits, they were asked by detectives to obtain Murty’s recent dental records, yet they were not told why they would have to obtain the dental records. It was difficult to comprehend what was going on and what you were living through, and not having information explained to you added to this distress. Our family thought that this was appalling. We couldn’t locate any dental records for Murty, however, my father informed and absolutely stressed to the detectives that Murty had a partial dental plate (due to football/ hurling incident).
Since then
There was no private family funeral or burial for Murty. We did not know which coffin was his when we attended the mass and burials for the five unidentified people which was held in Donnycarney Church on Monday 23rd February 1981.
Murty was an unidentified victim and was not formally identified until twenty-five years after the fire. My father’s heart, soul and spirit were broken, he knew that with Murty having a partial dental plate that he should have been the first identified victim. He was never the same again.
The Stardust fire ravaged our family, we were never the same again. My father was a broken man. My sister sold her home and she and her family moved in with my father to care for him. This was an arduous task as everyone was suffering traumatic grief and still trying to live their lives in the circumstances. Myself and my brother were both living in Canada at the time of the fire. It was difficult and frustrating in both the trauma, the grief and the sadness trying to organise to get home as quickly as possible at the time, and there was no support or help from the Irish Consulate/Government for siblings of those who died who lived abroad.
We were all left devastated by the traumatic loss of Murty, the absence of a private funeral, him being unidentified. But it was my father that was truly broken, every day he would say 'I would love to know where my son is buried’. He would say this every day until his own passing, he died in 1985. He went to his grave knowing his son was unidentified, yet he believed that his son should never have been unidentified because Murty had a partial dental plate.
Conclusion
Rest in Peace Murty – you are missed every day.
