Eamon Butterly loses challenge over unlawful killing verdict

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Eamon Butterly lost his High Court challenge over an unlawful killing verdict, in a decision reported on 2 November 2022.

Mr Justice Charles Meenan refused Butterly’s application, finding the coroner’s decision not to rule out such a verdict was correct in law. The judge said an unlawful killing verdict may be available only in appropriate circumstances where no person is identified or identifiable.

The ruling concerned the new inquest into 48 deaths in the Stardust nightclub fire in Artane on the night of 13/14 February 1981. An inquest establishes facts about the circumstances of a death; it does not determine civil or criminal liability.