It is hard to believe that next year, will be the twenty-fifth anniversary of the fire that destroyed Dublin’s Stardust nightclub in the early hours of St. Valentine’s Day 1981.

The fire resulted in the death of 48 young people and injured and disfigured a hundred more. Even to this day, survivors and the bereaved continue to suffer.

The fire had a tremendous impact on Dublin people and most of those killed came from the immediate vicinity. Thelma Frazer of Bath Avenue and Carol Bissett of Ringsend were two of the victims who came from our area.

On the tenth anniversary of this disaster, Dublin Corporation were asked to design and develop a memorial park to commemorate the tragedy.

Located between Greencastle Road and Adare Road a space of 20 acres traversed longitudinally by the Santry River was chosen on account of its proximity to where the tragedy occurred. The main aim was to provide a park with a memorial, the design of which would be relevant to the tragic event.

The memorial is a circular pool, 8 metres in diameter, the principal feature of which is a bronze sculpture of a boy and a girl dancing, designed by sculptor Robin Buick. Water is pumped by 48 jets in the illuminated fountain which surrounds the sculpture.

The pool is faced with limestone, which is also used as paving material around the pool. This area is enclosed by an incomplete circle, symbolising the short life of the 48 victims. The incomplete circle of 270 degrees forms an enclosure 20 metres in diameter around the entrance and its boundary is comprised of limestone piers with 48 railing panels symbolising the number of young people who lost their lives.

An avenue of lime trees is positioned 30 metres from the centre of the memorial. The park also contains a junior football pitch, an all-weather floodlit pitch, a playground, walks and plenty of tree planting all enclosed with mild steel railings on a pliant wall.

The Stardust memorial park was opened on the 18th September 1993 on a lovely sunny day by the Lord Mayor of Dublin Cllr. Tomas MacGiolla, in the presence of hundreds of local people. Also present was former Taoiseach Mr. Charles Haughey, credited with starting it all and who had performed the sod turning ceremony on this site on May 30th 1991.

It took me a few years but I eventually convinced the City Council to commission a new rose, called the Stardust Memory to honour the victims of this awful tragedy, which will be planted in this park.