After two days searching the Dublin city morgue, the parents of Mary and Martina Keegan were handed plastic bags containing small pieces of jewellery which they were asked to identify, before being told they would not be able to see their daughters one last time as the coffins were closed, the Stardust Inquest has heard.
The jury at the inquest into the Stardust fire, which killed 48 people when flames engulfed the building in the early hours of February 14th, 1981, on Thursday heard an account of the lives of the Keegan sisters, whose looks were matched by their inner beauty, according to emotional pen portraits delivered by their siblings.
Their youngest brother, Damien, told the inquest how he would sit on his doorstep and wait for his sister to come home every day for months after she was killed. "I was only three and a half and couldn’t understand why Mary never came home or walked up the path again," he said.
At the Dublin District Coroner’s Court, sitting in the Pillar Room of the Rotunda Hospital, Lorraine Keegan spoke about her sister Martina, who was 16 when she died.
Lorraine described Martina as “absolutely stunningly beautiful”, a Marilyn Monroe look-a-like who always said that one day, she was going to be a model.
“She had everything going for her: very attractive, a beautiful figure, natural blonde hair and a fantastic personality. We honestly know that there wasn’t one fella in Coolock or its surrounding areas who didn’t fancy Martina,” Lorraine said.
Lorraine said all the children had different chores to do around the house and Martina’s favourite was to clean out the fire and get it ready to be relit.
“We would have many a laugh with her, as one minute Martina would be massively beautiful and the next minute, she would be covered in black from the coal all over her face, arms and hands. We nicknamed her Cinderella. We would say to her: ‘Ah, here comes Cinders.’ Never, ever in our wildest dreams did we ever think this would be the condition of her body in death,” she said.
Jewellery
Lorraine told the inquest that after the Stardust fire, her parents spent two days in the morgue and were finally given two plastic bags containing jewellery that they were asked to identify, a necklace and two rings.
“My mam could positively identify the rings as Martina’s: one was a signet ring with the initials MK on it and the other was a Claddagh ring, which I am wearing on my hand today,” Lorraine said.
“That day changed the family and we have never been the same since. Our happy family days were gone. Our happy family home was gone. We are all heart broken and miss Martina so very much still to this day.”
She said that the families of the 48 victims of the Stardust fire have never been the families they were before, and they never will be again. She said that the Keegan family lost everything that day, and life has never been the same for them.
“The Stardust not only killed our beautiful sisters, Mary and Martina, but in the loss of their daughters, it also killed our dad, John Keegan, and our mam, Christine Keegan, as well,” she said.
Damien Keegan then spoke about his oldest sister, Mary (19), who he described as being “really beautiful inside and out”.
“She had the most outstanding looks, a real-life look-a-like of Farrah Fawcett Majors, right down to her hairstyle,” he said.
Special bond
He said, as the youngest brother and baby of the family, Mary and Martina idolised him, but there was a very special bond between him and Mary.
“She really loved me so much and there was never a day that would go by when she was leaving work that she would ever forget to buy me something to bring home to me,” he said.
Damien said that when his parents identified their daughters’ jewellery at the morgue, it was "their worst nightmare". His mother asked if she could see her daughters and was told by the garda that the coffin was closed, so she should just remember them the way they were.
“I would sit on our doorstep and wait for my sister to come home every day for months after Mary was killed. I was only three and a half and couldn’t understand why Mary never came home or walked up the path again,” he said.
Damien said that his father John was later unanimously elected as chairman of the Stardust Victims Committee, and his mother Christine went on to take over this position.
“For such a small, beautiful lady, the strength, courage, and determination she displayed was outstanding,” he said.
Christine passed away in July 2020, and Damien paid tribute to her by reading an extract of a statement she wrote in anticipation of the inquest. In the statement, Christine said:
“The Stardust tore our family apart, it has to be the saddest thing for any parent to have to bury their child, it was the worst day of my life... The Stardust Fire took all our happy family days away from us, it took away all our belief in faith and it took away our trust with successive Governments over the years.”
Damien concluded by saying: “Although we can never walk our mam’s walk, or stand in her shoes, we will continue in order to get truth and justice in loving memory of our beloved mam and dad as well as our two sisters.”
