Margaret Kiernan (19), Coolock: ‘The night of the Stardust fire was the night that broke our family’

The inquests into the deaths of the 48 young people who died in the Stardust fire in Artane, Dublin in 1981 feature pen portraits of each of the deceased by bereaved family members. Find all of the portraits and more coverage here.

My memories of [Margaret] are all of having fun and talking to her about her love of sports and going out with friends.

Her best friends were Rosie, Liz, Adrian and Sandra. Her best friend is, still to this day, Deirdre who is still very close to my mother, me and John.

Deirdre and Margaret met in primary school and became best friends. Both were fans of sports including soccer, hockey, basketball and both excelled in all three. As they grew up together, discos and trips out for the day became as important as the sports.

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Margaret loved her makeup and dressing up for any occasions. Deirdre fondly remembers their first trip to town on their own – a visit to the cinema followed by a burger and chips in the steakhouse on O’Connell Street.

Margaret had a love of music and used to scream out a version of Roxanne. Like most young girls, she dreamed of just being happy, getting married and having children, and moving into a house next door to Deirdre.

The night of the Stardust fire was the night that broke our family. Me and my brother John spent the following days searching hospitals and then the morgue, hoping against hope, maybe she was still alive.

The funeral brought it home. We were never going to see our baby sister again. My parents at the time were inconsolable and suicidal. They were never the same people after the terrible night.

My father returned to work after a very long absence. I worked in the same section in Dublin Airport. One day, an airport police officer who vaguely knew my dad stopped me, not knowing I was his son, and asked me how he was doing . . . He just said, “He looks like his soul has been sucked out”. I asked him how would he feel if his daughter had died in horrific circumstances.

As for me, it was a pleasure to have had her in my life, the short time that it was. Although the rest of my daughters never got to meet Margaret, they all feel that they knew her well.

My brother John has the following to say:

The night Margaret was killed my mother and father had their lives taken away from them. The spirit went from both of them and they would never be the same people again.

For me, it was like role reversal at 21 years of age, wondering what I would be coming home to where both parents took to heavy drink and tranquillising, listening to their sorrow for months on end.

Thankfully, they both came out the other side, albeit heartbroken. I am sure our story is not unique among the victims’ families.

My own upset . . . is that I was really only getting to know Margaret on adult terms. My biggest regret is that . . . that we still are searching for justice. If this happened in a more affluent area this case would have been solved at the outset.