‘No option’but to hold an inquest

The Taoiseach’s apology to the families of the victims of the Stardust tragedy came “decades too late” and is void of moral authority unless fresh inquests are held into other tragedies such as that on Whiddy Island.

That’s according to maritime lawyer Michael Kingston whose 31 year old father Tim was one of 50 lives lost in the Whiddy Island tragedy in 1979.

In recent years, Mr Kingston has been campaigning for a fresh inquest into the circumstances surrounding a fire and subsequent explosion onboard the French oil tanker MV Betelgeuse at Gulf Oil’s Whiddy Island Oil Terminal’s offshore jetty in Bantry Bay on 8 January 1979.

This week, an Taoiseach Simon Harris apologised to the families of the victims of the 1982 Stardust tragedy following a renewed inquest which found that the 48 victims had been unlawfully killed.

Speaking to the Cork Independent, Mr Kingston, who was four years old when his father died, said that although he was delighted with the outcome of the Stardust inquest, Mr Harris’ apology was “forced through the humiliation of the victory of the families”.

“It had to be done. It's void of even an iota of moral authority if they don't take action on other requests that are before the Attorney General such as the Whiddy Island request for fresh inquest,” said Mr Kingston.

“The apology was for what they put the families through when, on the one hand they're making an apology in the Dáil, and on the other hand they're continuing to do exactly the same thing, and not just with the Whiddy Island families, but lots of other families where it's quite obvious that inquests have not been carried out correctly,” he added.

Mr Kingston also confirmed that the Irish Attorney General has “no option” but to order a fresh inquest given the unreliability of the initial inquest into the Whiddy Island tragedy.

He continued: “The Stardust inquest is the first inquest that's being done properly with the influence of lawyers from outside our jurisdiction who had to force the Government through applications through the European Court of Justice.”

Mr Kingston, who is the vice president of the French-Irish Association of Relatives and Friends of the Betelgeuse, wrote a letter to the Taoiseach recently highlighting his and his predecessor’s repeated failure to meet with the families of the victims of the Whiddy Island disaster.

“Not only was the reason for the disaster and everyone dying, a dereliction of duty, but what happened in the aftermath and the manner in which the Irish State have been treating citizens wallowing in grief, is appalling; they can't even turn up at commemorations,” said Mr Kingston.

“It is an utter dereliction of duty and totally at variance with the founders of the Irish State and what we proclaimed we would do of all inclusivity and to cherish children of our nation - well, they've certainly managed to get as far away from that aim as is possible,” he concluded.