Summerland fire survivors call for fresh inquest into tragedy that claimed 50 lives

Fifty people died and 80 suffered serious injuries when a blaze engulfed the popular Douglas entertainment venue in August 1973.

The deaths were ruled to have been the result of “misadventure”.

A group representing Summerland survivors has highlighted the recent Stardust tragedy inquest as an example of how a just outcome can follow a decades-long campaign.

Last week, a Dublin jury found that all 48 of the young people who died at the Stardust nightclub in February 1981 were unlawfully killed.

The original Stardust inquest in 1981 found the fire started because of arson, but that theory was never accepted by the families of victims and that ruling was eventually dismissed in 2009.

Last Thursday, a jury found that various materials inside the premises contributed to the blaze, and that emergency exits were locked or otherwise obstructed.

In response to that finding, the Justice for Summerland campaign group said: "This is a huge moment for the families and friends of the 48 young people who died in the Stardust fire in Dublin in 1981.

"The verdict of unlawful killing delivered today is a testament to their tenacity and determination to get truth and justice for their loved ones, despite many obstacles, including those put in their way by the state.

"Their fight took over 40 years. They did not give up and neither shall we."

The fire at the Summerland complex is believed to have been started accidentally by three boys from Liverpool smoking in a disused kiosk.

A Jordanstown man who escaped the blaze has added his voice to the calls for a fresh inquest.

Robert Wilson, then aged 16, was one of many people from Northern Ireland who were holidaying on the island when the fire took hold of the complex.

He was treated for minor burns after escaping the burning building along with his parents and grandmother.

"Death by misadventure suggests that the people who perished in Summerland did so partly as a result of their own actions," he told the BBC.

"In some way they were responsible for what happened. Nothing could be further from the truth."

A woman from Dromore, Co Down also survived the Summerland fire, but suffered serious physical and psychological injuries.

Ruth McQuillan-Wilson was just five-years-old when she suffered serious injuries – enduring years of skin grafts and reconstructive work to help her walk again.

On the 50th anniversary of the tragedy last August, she told the BBC that she kept her scars hidden when she was growing up, "because I couldn't be myself when they were on show".

However, she said in recent years, she had decided to no longer do that.

"It took me a long time to accept, but that's the way I feel now, I'm not going to hide it. This happened to me and I've survived. I'm lucky, so I'm not going to hide that," she said.

This week Ms McQuillan-Wilson said that while a fresh inquest would be good for some survivors, not everyone would be celebrating.

"It will be right for some people but it won't be right for others. It will heal some wounds but open other wounds."