Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

State ceremony honours Stardust fire victims

President of Ireland Michael D Higgins during a Stardust ceremony of commemoration at the Garden of Remembrance in Dublin (Damien Storan/PA)
President of Ireland Michael D Higgins during a Stardust ceremony of commemoration at the Garden of Remembrance in Dublin (Damien Storan/PA)

A remembrance state ceremony is taking place in honour of the victims, survivors and those affected by the Stardust fire in Dublin.

The ceremony of commemoration is being led by Irish President Michael D Higgins in the Garden of Remembrance on Sunday, honouring the 48 people who died in the 1981 disaster.

Co-designed with the families of the victims, the ceremony was also remembering all those who helped victims and their families on the night and over the years since.

As well as Mr Higgins, Lord Mayor of Dublin Daithi de Roiste, Irish premier Simon Harris, deputy premier Micheal Martin and members of the Irish Government were in attendance.

Black and white photo of officers outside the Stardust building following the fire
Officers outside the venue in the hours after the incident (PA)

Mr Higgins is laying a wreath on behalf of the people of Ireland at the ceremony, which was comprised of spoken word, music and song.

Music was being provided by the North Dublin Gospel Community Choir, the Artane Band and the Dublin Fire Brigade Band, with solo performances by Christy Moore, Zoe Conway, Kevin Rowsome, Mary Byrne and Eddie Sherlock.

Roddy Doyle will read a piece he composed especially for the ceremony entitled Names, and Fr Joe Jones will read a prayer.

Families of the survivors and victims of the Stardust disaster outside Government Buildings with a banner reading 'Truth'
Families of the survivors and victims of the Stardust disaster have campaigned for 40 years for justice (PA)

Master of ceremonies for the event is Phelim Drew.

The majority of other attendees will be the families of those who died, survivors and first responders who worked on the night.

The families were laying wreaths in the cruciform pool and reading out the names of those who died, along with extracts from pen portraits.

After more than 40 years of the victims’ families campaigning for justice, an inquest in April found the 48 young people had been unlawfully killed.

The ceremony started at noon and was being televised live on RTE 1.