Emergency exits in the Stardust nightclub in Dublin, in which 48 young people died in a fire in February 1981, “were locked” on the night, inquests into the deaths heard on Friday.
In a dramatic reversal, after four days in the witness box, Leo Doyle, who was the deputy doorman at the ballroom in Artane on the night of the disaster, apologised to the coroner Dr Myra Cullinane and said he believed he “made a right boo-boo… the doors were locked. They must have been.”
The hearing in the Pillar Room of the Rotunda Hospital also heard details, for the first time, of a “scam” operated by up to seven doormen at the club whereby they let customers in through a side entrance for less than the cover charge.
It was possibly this “scam” that resulted in an instruction from manager, Eamon Butterly, to lock and chain exits until as late at 12.40am, Mr Doyle agreed.
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The inquests have heard testimony of a policy of looping chains over emergency exits’ push-bars to make them appear locked to dissuade people letting their friends in for free. This policy changed four weeks before the fire, meaning exits were kept locked until after midnight as Mr Butterly became increasingly “vexed” about people getting in without paying.
Fresh inquests into the deaths of 48 people, aged 16 to 27, in the early hours of February 14th, 1981, are being held following a 2019 direction by then attorney general Séamus Woulfe.
[ Stardust inquests: Senior doorman told his junior to leave emergency exits lockedOpens in new window ]
On Friday, the last day of evidence before the court rose for a six-week break, Mr Doyle asked to read over statements of another witness, Patrick Kavanagh – now dead – who was the father of another doorman, Michael Kavanagh.
Mr Doyle had been asked in his testimony at the inquest earlier this week about who had unlocked exits on the night and when.
In a statement to the Garda in 1981, Mr Doyle said head doorman Tom Keenan had told him at 1.30am that the exits were unlocked. However, Mr Doyle told the inquest that it was his recollection that Mr Kavanagh had said at about 9.50pm that he had unlocked the doors.
Bernard Condon SC, for the families of 10 of the dead, put it to Mr Doyle that he and other doormen had “advanced” both “conspiracies”, that neither was true and that the doors had not been unlocked at all. “The cloud of deception that has descended over this case by virtue of the dishonesty of many a doorman makes it practically impossible for a jury to know anything about what condition those doors were in,” Mr Condon said.
Having read over Patrick Kavanagh’s statements, Mr Doyle returned to the box shortly after noon on Friday and said: “I would like to apologise to you all, gentlemen and coroner. Can I say I think I made a right boo-boo. And I maybe believe now, the doors were locked. They must have been…”
“The doors must have been?” asked Michael O’Higgins SC, for families of 10 of the dead.
“Locked,” said Mr Doyle.
Des Fahy, representing the families nine of the dead, asked Mr Doyle about a passage in his 1981 statement, in which he said he got £17 on St Stephen’s night 1980. This was his share from a collection by doormen on the door of the Lantern Rooms, which was part of the Stardust, where they were letting people in without paying the full cover charge.
“Eamon Butterly got to know about this – people getting in without paying at the cash desk,” he said in 1981.
Mr Fahy said it had been “part of the Stardust story for 42 years” that exits were closed or locked to stop people getting in without paying and this was a “false justification”.
“This was a scam by doormen to collect money from people who didn’t pay in through the cash desk. Is that right?” asked Mr Fahy.
“Yes,” said Mr Doyle.
“And you were one of them?” asked Mr Fahyy.
“Yes,” the witness replied.
“That’s why [Mr Butterly] was mad,” the barrister said.
“True,” Mr Doyle said.
“And that’s why, I am suggesting to you the policy changed in 1981 to lock all the doors in that complex, to stop doormen continuing to be on the take,” said Mr Fahy.
“It could be true, yes,” said Mr Doyle.
The inquests resume on September 4th.
