What happened on the fateful night of the Stardust fire in 1981?

The stories were endless; the shock was palpable.

The images of the burning nightclub were shown on Irish broadcaster RTÉ and are considered some of the most harrowing ever shown on the channel.

In the aftermath, Charlie Haughey, the then taoiseach (prime minister) and TD for the area at the time, promised justice and answers.

A tribunal, which the families believed was rushed, was held the following year, chaired by Justice Ronan Keane.

He concluded the cause of the fire was probably arson after someone set fire to a chair near the ballroom. The families and witnesses rejected the claim. The fire, they said, had come down from the roof.

Despite findings of safety breaches, and multiple witness testimonies that they had seen electrical faults in the club in the weeks before the fire, there were no prosecutions over the incident.

In 1983, due to the tribunal finding of probable arson, the owners of the Stardust nightclub were awarded damages of more than €730,000 after suing Dublin Corporation (formerly Dublin City Council).