There were, approximately, 800 people in the Stardust club when it was engulfed by flames in the early hours of Saturday 14 February 1981.
Forty-eight of them died and their loss is still being deeply felt four decades on.
Over 100 more who were at the disco were injured.
And beyond those headline figures it is evident that many more there that night suffered.
They may have escaped unscathed, physically uninjured, but it is clear they were victims too.
At the Dublin District Coroner's Court last week week, we began to hear from some of them.
These fresh inquests, in front of Dr Myra Cullinane and a 13 person jury, began last April with the reading of 'pen portraits' where the bereaved families paid tribute to their lost loved ones.
Each of the 48 were remembered in this way. Then came the first module of evidence where we heard directly from the staff and management at the club.
Scores of witnesses gave evidence in person and there were many more statements read into the record from unavailable and deceased witnesses. Much of the focus was on the policies around the locking of doors, the condition of the building, and the aftermath of the fire. Many of those answering the questions were in positions of responsibility.
Last week though, the inquests shifted into a different phase and began to hear from patrons who were there that night and who escaped.
Some might call them "the lucky ones" and depending on your viewpoint, that term is relative. Three days into this new module we have already heard some harrowing tales.
Liam Hennessy was the first to give evidence last Thursday. He was 31 years old in 1981. In court, he looked all of his 70 plus years.
He made his way to the witness box with the aid of a walker, his story of the night moved some of those in the courtroom to tears.
In a low voice, he spoke into the microphone, and told of his repeated but ultimately unsuccessful attempts to bring a family friend to safety.
David Flood was 18 years old and had fallen asleep in a seat in the North Alcove of the club. As people were alerted to the fire, Liam Hennessy tried to wake David up. He shook him good, he pulled at his legs.
Liam Hennessy spoke of the stampede, the fire ball, and the smoke that were all swirling around as he tried to rouse David.
The jury heard how Liam Hennessy returned to David a second time and shook him again but at that stage the black fumes meant he could not see anything.
"Then I let him go," Liam said. "There was nothing I could do."
Liam Hennessy told how he covered his face and made it out emergency exit 1. When he got out into the air, he could not breathe. He stuck his finger down his throat "to get rid of the smoke".
He then went around the front to the main entrance to see if David was coming out that way. But he never did. David Flood would become one of the 48 who died.
Towards the end of the testimony, Darragh Mackin, the solicitor for the Flood family, thanked Liam Hennessy for all the efforts he made to try to help save David's life.
With that Liam Hennessy shuffled out of the witness box, out of the courtroom, and out into the Dublin air.
No doubt, the events of 42 years ago still ringing in his head.
There was mention of more of the dead too.
During the end of the week Noel Byrne recounted his dramatic escape.
21 years old at the time of the fire, he told the court how he was pushed along with the crowd and ended up in the cash office off the main foyer.
As more of the dark smoke began to gather, he made the decision that the way out was through the window. He told the court how the people on the outside helped pull him through the smashed glass.
He spoke too of Brendan O'Meara, the friend he lost. Noel Byrne described seeing him earlier in the night, it would be for the last time.
Noel Byrne said it was his understanding that Brendan had initially made it to safety, before going back in to help others. "Unfortunately, he went in one time too much, he never got out," Noel Byrne told the court.
Brendan O'Meara was 23 years old.
Other witnesses have spoken of the screams and the desperate attempts that were made by those who made it out to try to help those still trapped inside. The emergency services had yet to arrive.
Joseph Cumiskey described how he tried to break the windows outside on the front of building with a hammer in an effort to get people out but could not do so because of the bars across them.
Through tearful testimony he said: "There was nothing I could have done."
Eileen Rock also described the screams for help coming from the toilets and the attempts to smash the windows. She told the court there were people pulling on the canopy, swinging on it, trying to kick in the window but to no avail.
These inquests have already heard how steel plates were welded to the inside of the toilet windows in the weeks before the fire.
Another witness, Paula Toner, who was 17 at the time, also described the scenes on the outside. She said people were standing at the toilet windows and shouting to the people inside to "put their hands out" and "to put their heads down the toilets".
Paula Toner went on to describe the pandemonium outside but then how "everything just went quiet". She said the silence went through everyone, the hands disappeared she said, and the shouting stopped. She said they knew what was happening inside.
The court also heard how somebody had tied ropes around the bars of the windows outside and tied the other end to a white van in an effort to get the bars off.
"The bars didn't come off," Paula Toner said.
Other common themes are emerging from the witnesses.
They speak of "fire balls" and a "mushroom of fire" as the blaze spread from something that looked like it was containable to something uncontrollable within a very short period.
They have spoken too about the panic, how it was "every man for himself" as hundreds made their way to the main entrance doors because that was the only way they knew to get out. They say they got no direction from staff.
What followed was a "stampede" as people spoke of the crush in the foyer, waiting to escape as the lights went out and as the flames and dark smoke grew ominously closer.
There is another common thread throughout the questioning too. Most of those who have given evidence so far were underage, the night was meant to be for over 21s.
Lorraine Brady was 17 years old and had been a regular at the club since she was 16. She, like others last week, told the court that she had no difficulty gaining entry.
She told the court that she had a birthday cake with her that night to celebrate two of her friends' eighteenths.
The inquests heard how the club would provide champagne if a patron brought in cake.
The jury has already heard that 38 of the 48 victims were under the age of 21.
It is expected that portion of the inquests will not be as lengthy as the previous "staff and management" module.
While some of those witnesses spent days answering questions from the legal teams representing families of the dead, it is thought those giving evidence now will not be nearly as long.
Indeed, on the going so far, it seems the witnesses will spend around 30 minutes in front of the jury.
It will though, still be challenging, the testimony at times horrific, and will need to be handled sensitively.
At one point last week, a witness left sobbing. His wailing from the lobby could still be heard by those inside the courtroom.
Another could be seen crying outside as he talked about a friend who was killed.
These are Dubliners, now in their 60s, who grew up during bleak times, in an area of the city that had seen its fair share of hardship.
Last week though, they cried recounting the events of 42 years ago and for the lives lost and the lives destroyed.
They were not the only ones who shed a tear.
