The Stardust Tragedy
The Stardust Tragedy didn’t just happen by accident. It began long before the early hours of February 14th 1981. The origins of Ireland’s most catastrophic fire lay in neglected Dublin, a city of inequality and exploitation, where the business classes operated with some impunity.
This incredible eight-part podcast opens with a study of an evolving city, a social housing experiment still in its infancy but already displaying signs of failure. A growing youth population crying out for escape, and the converted jam factory which offered them sanctuary.
Thanks to the testimony of survivors and families, listeners met some of those ordinary people of 1980s northside Dublin. Young, fun-loving, yet so often breadwinners from an early age. Unsung heroes in families which needed them to get by during bleak economic times.
The Stardust Tragedy tells the story of the overriding love that coexisted with pain, despair and grief, documenting a piece of history which has woven its way into the very fabric of Irish society.