John Downing: Taoiseach Simon Harris’s well-chosen ‘state act of contrition’ a good start – but more robust accountability plan must follow

Lisa Lawlor was just 17 months old when her parents Francis and Maureen died in the Stardust fire. Photo: Niall Carson

John Downing

Another sorry chronicle of decades of neglect, indifference and cruelty – and another public government apology.

In the past three decades we have had many such apologies. But are they a convenient contemporary political parking device? Or is there more to them?