State ceremony to honour Stardust fire victims
A remembrance state ceremony is set to take place in honour of the victims, survivors and those affected by the Stardust fire in Dublin.
The ceremony of commemoration will be led by Irish President Michael D Higgins in the Garden of Remembrance on Sunday, honouring the 48 people who died in the 1981 disaster.
Three people were from Northern Ireland.
Co-designed with the families of the victims, the ceremony will also remember 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 will be in attendance.
Mr Higgins will lay a wreath on behalf of the people of Ireland.
The ceremony will comprise spoken word, music and song.
Music will be 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.
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 will lay wreaths in the cruciform pool and read 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.