Stardust Memorial Park () is a memorial park located in

Coolock Coolock () is a large suburban area, centred on a village, on Dublin city's Northside in Ireland. Coolock is crossed by the Santry River, a prominent feature in the middle of the district, with a linear park and ponds. The Coolock suburban a ...

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

which was built to commemorate the lives of those who died in the Stardust night club fire on 14 February 1981.

History

The park comprises 26 acres along the

Santry River Santry River () is a small watercourse on the north side of Dublin city, one of the forty or so watercourses monitored by Dublin City Council. It runs, mostly unculverted, from Harristown and Dubber near Dublin Airport, through Santry and Cool ...

on land which was originally a 12th-century monastic site. Five years after the fire, in 1986, it was agreed that a memorial would be made to remember those who died. The sod turning ceremony took place on by the then Taoiseach

Charles Haughey Charles James Haughey (; 16 September 1925 – 13 June 2006) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who led four governments as Taoiseach: December 1979 to June 1981, March to December 1982, March 1987 to June 1989, and June 1989 to February 1992 ...

and his son

Seán Haughey Seán Haughey (born 8 November 1961) is an Irish former Fianna Fáil politician who served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin Bay North constituency from 2016 to 2024, and previously from 1992 to 2011 for the Dublin North-Central constitue ...

, followed by an open-air mass.

Development

The design was prepared in 1991 and consisted of a combination of contract work, direct labour and a community youth training project which was operating through

FÁS FÁS (), the common name for An Foras Áiseanna Saothair (; ), was a state agency in Ireland with responsibility for assisting those seeking employment. It was established in January 1988 under the Labour Services Act 1987 and was run by a board ...

. The cost of the park was around £300,000. The major works were carried out by

Dublin Corporation Dublin Corporation (), known by generations of Dubliners simply as ''The Corpo'', is the former name of the city government and its administrative organisation in Dublin since the 1100s. Significantly re-structured in 1660–1661, even more si ...

's Parks Department with input from various divisions. The park is enclosed with a mild steel railing on a plinth wall, and the entrances are defined by piers of

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

which are of a similar design to that used in the memorial.

Delays

While the groundbreaking had occurred in May 1991, there was no progress at the site for months. By October 1991, Stardust Relatives Committee chairperson Christine Keegan spoke about the upset she felt when she visited the site to see no progress having been made. Construction on the park later began in February 1992. On 7 November 1992, Michael Smith, the Minister for the Environment, stated that they had taken measures to ensure that work would resume as soon as possible on the memorial park following progress abruptly stopping at the site two weeks beforehand due to the budget concerns by the Dublin Corporation. The government had decided to fund the remainder of the project following the

1992 Irish general election The 1992 Irish general election to the 27th Dáil was held on Wednesday, 25 November, almost three weeks after the Dissolution of Parliament, dissolution of the 26th Dáil on 5 November by President of Ireland, President Mary Robinson, on the r ...

Memorial

In late 1991, Dublin Corporation held a competition for sculptors to create a sculpture to go in the memorial fountain. They later held an exhibition in the nearby Coolock library showing nine memorials for the victims on the 11th anniversary of the tragedy, 14 February 1992. One of the sculptures on show was by Robin Buick, a sculptor from Monkstown, and this was chosen for the memorial. The memorial, called the Fountain of Youth, represents a circular pool with a bronze sculpture of a dancing couple in the middle. The water is pumped by 48 jets in the illuminated fountain which surrounds the sculpture. On 12 February 1993, 48 birch trees were planted around the memorial, one for each person who died in the tragedy, by the then Lord Mayor

Gay Mitchell Gabriel Mitchell (born 30 December 1951) is an Irish former Fine Gael politician who served as Minister of State for European Affairs from 1994 to 1997 and Lord Mayor of Dublin from 1992 to 1993. He served as a Member of the European Parliament ...

Opening

The park was officially opened on by the then Lord Mayor, Tomás Mac Giolla.

Facilities

The park has a playground, an all-weather football pitch (which was renovated by

Dublin City Council Dublin City Council () is the Local government in the Republic of Ireland, local authority of the city of Dublin in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. As a city council, it is governed by the Local Government Act 2001. Until 2001, the authority was k ...

in late 2015) and a garden terrace with seating. Various bridges are placed over the

which runs directly through the park into a small lake in the middle where a small island is present which is the home to many birds including

swan Swans are birds of the genus ''Cygnus'' within the family Anatidae. The swans' closest relatives include the goose, geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe (biology) ...

s and

duck Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family (biology), family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and goose, geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfam ...

Issues

By 1997, there was an increasing amount of

drug dealing The illegal drug trade, drug trafficking, or narcotrafficking is a global black market dedicated to the cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of prohibited drugs. Most jurisdictions prohibit trade, except under license, of many types ...

occurring in the park, particularly to children and teenagers, as well as used syringes being found around the site. In 2001, the Santry river was flooded with

silt Silt is granular material of a size between sand and clay and composed mostly of broken grains of quartz. Silt may occur as a soil (often mixed with sand or clay) or as sediment mixed in suspension (chemistry), suspension with water. Silt usually ...

that had been dumped by private developers. As a result, wildlife fled from the area and

vermin Vermin (colloquially varmint(s) or varmit(s)) are pests or nuisance animals that spread diseases and destroy crops, livestock, and property. Since the term is defined in relation to human activities, which species are included vary by regi ...

had accumulated. The estimated cost of restoring the pond was £10,000.

Refurbishment

Beginning in early 2020, the park was refurbished ahead of the 40th anniversary of the Stardust nightclub fire by the means of thousands of

bulb In botany, a bulb is a short underground stem with fleshy leaves or leaf basesBell, A.D. 1997. ''Plant form: an illustrated guide to flowering plant morphology''. Oxford University Press, Oxford, U.K. that function as food storage organs duri ...

s being planted throughout the park. As well as this, the other works consisted of some trees being removed, a butterfly bank being added and new paths being created. Noting the park's association with anti-social behaviour, the

highlighted the issue and recognised that their first undertaking was to ensure that the users of the park felt secure. As well as the refurbishments, a dedicated gardener was assigned to maintain the upkeep of the park. The memorial itself has been cleaned and restored to its former glory and two benches have been added near the memorial itself.

References

{{Green Dublin Coolock Monuments and memorials in the Republic of Ireland Parks in Dublin (city) Protected areas established in 1993