WATCH: 'We are sorry. We failed you when you needed us the most' - Taoiseach tells Stardust families

Taoiseach Simon Harris formally apologised to the Stardust families in the Dáil today, who he said have been "forced to endure a living nightmare".

The formal apology by the Taoiseach is the culmination of over forty years of campaigning by the families, friends and loved ones of those who perished in the tragic nightclub fire in north Dublin in February 1981.

Many of those campaigners and family gathered in the Dáil to hear the official State apology, including leading campaigner Antoinette Keegan.

"I know there have been many times when you thought this day would never come over far too many, many years," he said as he opened the delivery of the State apology.

"I am deeply sorry that you were made to fight for so long that they went to their graves, never knowing the truth.

"Today we say formally, and without any equivocation. We are sorry. We failed you, when you need us the most. From the very beginning, we should have stood with you, but instead we forced you to stand against us. I hope this is a moment when the State, which rubbed salt in your terrible wounds, starts to help you heal."

Harris said the families asked him to feel the pain they felt and immerse himself in their world "of anguish, heartbreak, but also love".

Harris also read aloud the names and ages of each of the 48 victims, with remarks on each person including their interests and aspirations. When pregnant Stardust victim Caroline Carey (17) was mentioned by the Taoiseach, Harris said the family asked that he tell the Dáil that her baby was the 49th victim.

Forty-eight young people lost their lives in the Stardust disaster. Harris told the Dáil that many more were injured and even more still had their lives "broken and shattered forever".

The Taoiseach recalled the stigma the families faced in their campaign for truth and their fight against accusations of arson, saying that "in such shattering circumstances, the most basic expectation must surely be for the State to provide support. "Instead it is to our great shame that State processes heaped misery upon tragedy for the Stardust families."

"There were countless others whose lives were turned to ash... first by the fire and then by successive failures of the State to do what was right."

Following last week’s long-awaited verdict of unlawful killing, Harris said: “I truly hope that the days since last Thursday have marked a turning point and here today in Dáil Eireann, we finally begin to put things right to bring you in from the cold and end the neglect of 43 years’ waiting and fighting for the only thing you ever wanted – the truth.”

Apologies and statements were also issued by various TDs, ministers and opposition leaders.

Sinn Féin Leader Mary Lou McDonald said the hope of the State was that the families would eventually “shut up and give up and go away”.

But, she continued, “you don’t mess with Dublin mammies…and Irish mammies” because “they will fight and they will win even when it takes 43 long years.”

Ms McDonald said the Stardust family broke the heart of Dublin city and took the breadth of the nation.“Justice was kept out of reach for those left to bear unimaginable loss,” she told the Dáil.

She said this moment is for the victims and the families who have lived with the ghost of unanswered questions and “the sorrow of the empty chair”. She said that finally the truth has prevailed “and now let justice flow like a river”.

>Ms McDonald’s address was the first to be acknowledged by applause.