A teenager who died in the Stardust fire was today remembered as a much-loved daughter, sister and friend who was kind, funny and popular.
Mary Kenny was 19 years old when she lost her life in the 1981 fire at the St Valentine's Day dance.
Today, her youngest sister, Angela Kenny, who was 15 years old at the time of the disaster, told the inquest that her brother Paul had also gone to Stardust that night and survived, but still cannot talk about it as he is still traumatised by what he experienced.
Paying tribute to Mary, she told the inquest of her sister's love of music and said she had just started out on her career as a receptionist and had her whole life ahead of her.
Recalling that Friday evening, she said her family were all sitting in the kitchen with their mam laughing and talking about who had received Valentine’s cards.
"She was very happy going out the door that night," Ms Kenny said.
"She said she would see us later. They were our last happy memories of Mary."
She told the inquest that Mary had been trying to persuade her other sister Carol to go to the dance. Fortunately though, Carol declined, saying she was saving for holiday.
Ms Kenny spoke of the trauma of the following days and how her family were praying Mary would walk through the front door, but then a got a call to go to the morgue.
Mary was identified by her jewellery – a ring and a wristwatch that were all black from the fire.
She said Mary's death left them devastated.
"There is always a sadness in our family," she said
"I was so young at the time and would give anything to go back to that night ... and stop Mary going to the Stardust dance," she said.
Ms Kenny concluded her testimony by telling of how her mother passed away in 2004 "without ever getting justice her daughter Mary deserved".
'She was our Dancing Queen, young and sweet, only 17'
The younger sister of another teenager who died in the Stardust fire has told the inquest that the decades-long fight for answers has taken far too much from their family, saying they had decades of unprocessed grief, shock, and anger.
Michelle Kennedy today paid tribute to her 17-year-old sister Marie Kennedy.
"My big sister Marie died 10 days before my 5th birthday... I've been unfairly cheated out of so much. But then we all have," she said.
Delivering her 'pen portrait', Michelle said that Marie has been lost in the smoke and devastation of the Stardust for too long and said "today we are taking her back and remembering her life".
Michelle described Marie as kind-hearted and fun-loving person with a larger-than-life personality.
She told the inquest of Marie's love of dancing.
"She was our Dancing Queen, young and sweet, only 17," she told the coroner's court. "Cheeky, fun-loving and mischievous."
Michelle said she was going to write about how her parents had found Marie in Jervis St Hospital, how her mother recognised her by her feet and how her father and grandfather had to officially identify her the following day and came out forever changed.
Instead, she said, she wanted to focus on reclaiming her sister from the darkness and despair and bring her back into the sunlight where she belongs.
