He said previous inquests in 1982 recorded how the deaths occurred but there was no reference to the surrounding circumstances, in particular the cause of the fire.
Still fighting for justice, and awaiting the beginning of the new inquests, relatives at the site observed a minute of silence and shed tears members of Dublin Fire Brigade paid their own tribute with lights and sirens from a fire tender.
Samantha Mangan, who lost her mother Helena in the fire, read a poem that had been found on a Valentine card found on the site in the clean-up after the blaze.
It had been written by Martina Keegan to her boyfriend David Morton, both of whom died in the fire.