Stardust campaigner Antoinette Keegan explains why she is contesting election for National Party
Ms Keegan was in Stardust nightclub when it caught fire during a Valentine's Day disco in 1981. Some 48 people perished, including her two sisters Mary, 19, and 16-year-old Martina.
Stardust Stardust survivor and advocate Antoinette Keegan has announced that she will contest the general election in Dublin Fingal East.
Speaking to the Irish Mirror, she has “done this walk for 43 years and has very comfortable shoes” for campaigning.
Ms Keegan was in Stardust nightclub when it caught fire during a Valentine's Day disco in 1981. Some 48 people perished, including her two sisters Mary, 19, and 16-year-old Martina.
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Ms Keegan will run for the National Party in Dublin Fingal East. She stated she did consider running for the local elections but was too preoccupied with the Stardust inquest.
She later told her brother she would consider running as an independent candidate in the general election.
Ms Keegan explained: “I got a phone call then from the National Party to ask would I like to run with them and they would fund the whole lot.
“Over 43 years being involved in the Stardust, I've actually been up against various different parties in the political circles; I've been up against Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Labour. I’ve been up against the Green Party. Anyone that has been in government over the years, I've been up against them. It was like banging your head off a brick wall because you got nowhere.
“There’s so many injustices and so many problems and so many things that have to be addressed in this country that have been ignored.”
The National Party currently has one councillor and no Dáil representation. It has been described as a “far right” party. On its website, it describes itself as a “nationalist party” which believes in “Irish people, our right to exist as a nation and our right to defend and lay claim to our homeland”.
The party was thrust into controversy last year as Justin Barrett and James Reynolds fought over who was the party’s leader and the ownership of gold bars valued at over €400,000.
The Irish Mirror asked Ms Keegan about people who may have reservations about her running for a far-right party. She said she believed they were trying to “make a change.”
She continued: “You can talk about previous politicians that were in power. They were, as they say, left-wing, right-wing, chicken-wing. There were previous politicians in there that were the same. But this party is out to try and make a change.
“That is my perspective as a candidate running for the party, to make a change and bring good success to the party or bring good success to the people that have problems or concerns.”
She later said: “If the divil in the deep blue sea came to me and said, ‘I want you to run with me’, I’d do anything now because I have no trust in any parties.”
Asked about her stance on immigration, Ms Kegan said she had “no problem with immigration for families fleeing war”.
She raised concerns about the housing list and the number of people who remain waiting for social homes for years. She also suggested that some people move down the queue rather than up.
She also raised concerns about the number of people left on “trolleys and corridors” in hospitals.
She added: “I done 43 years of perseverance and persistently knocking on doors and fighting against successive governments for the injustice that was done on 48 victims [of the Stardust tragedy] and their families and the survivors. I haven't given up."
Ms Keegan also bemoaned the fact that the compensation for the families of the Stardust victims has yet to be paid. She also criticised the Government's slow response in announcing the second strand of redress that would include those who survived the blaze.
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