Robert ‘Bobby’ Hillick (20), Belfast - ‘I still don’t think I will ever get over my brother’s death’

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 read by bereaved family members. Find all of the portraits and more coverage here

This short pen portrait has been put together from conversations with Bill Hillick about his brother. Bill passed away before this pen portrait would be shared at the inquest on Thursday

Bobby grew up in Belfast and lived at home with his mother and older brother Bill.

Bobby’s dad passed away at 25 from cancer and so it was just us two at the house with our mum.

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As we grew up, Bobby would always have got the upper hand on me. I had many black eyes and bloody noses from him when we fell out. We were very close and just doing as young boys do.

My mother would have heard us fighting in the bedroom and come to hit us over the head with her slipper to stop us. We loved each other and this was just a part of growing up in a lively house with a close family.

Bobby played plenty of sport growing up. He loved football and boxing. When Bobby was 13, he wanted to start making money and was anxious to work. We all were at that time. He got his paper round. It was a successful paper round which he kept up all the way until he left school.

Toll

Bobby was a hardworking man and went to Dublin to work on a building site.

Then the fire happened. I think it wasn’t until the next day that we went down to identify the bodies. We couldn’t believe that this was happening to our family.

Bobby’s death really took its toll on me and I went to England for many years to try to block out that it had happened. I couldn’t cope with it and being at home was being constantly faced with his loss. Even now I still don’t think I will ever get over it. We just had a two-year age difference. We were so close, and I miss my brother so much.

My mother was always a good religious woman and losing a child after losing our father would have been anybody’s worst nightmare.

At first, we thought the fire was a freak accident and the deaths were unavoidable. But then we heard some troubling details about what happened that night as the inquests played out, which made the whole thing that much more difficult to deal with.

My mother has never gotten over this, but she is a quiet and stoic woman. My mother doesn’t deserve to be forced to carry this heartbreak and this grief. It is so sad that his life was taken when he was so young. Bobby had his whole life ahead of him until it was cut short. Bobby’s death devastated our family.