Stardust fire inquests: Senior doorman’s evidence contradicts 1981 statements to Garda

A senior doorman at the Stardust nightclub in north Dublin, in which 48 young people died in a fire in 1981, has given contradictory evidence at inquests into the deaths about emergency exits, and whether and when they were unlocked on the night of the blaze.

Leo Doyle told Dublin Coroner’s Court on Tuesday that he was handed keys to all emergency exits at about 10pm on the night of February 13th, 1981 and had heard that the exits had been opened, conflicting with his 1981 statements to gardaí.

Mr Doyle was 33 at the time and had been working at the Artane venue since October 1980. On Tuesday, his 1981 statements were read into the record.

In one, made in February 1981, he told gardaí that, about four weeks before the fire, head doorman Tom Kennan had told him “exits were to be locked and chained until midnight or 12.30am... This was to stop people getting in through the fire exits”.

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Asked on Tuesday by Simon Mills SC, for the coroner, about this, Mr Doyle said: “I don’t recall it, sorry.”

[ Stardust assistant manager knew emergency exits were locked and did nothing to stop it, inquests heard ]

Mr Mills then took him through his February 20th, 1981 Garda statement in which he said: “At 1.30am on February 14th, Thomas Kennan handed all of the keys of the Stardust club to [doorman] Frankie Downes in my presence at the main door.

“I heard him say to Frankie Downes, ‘Look after the keys. The exits are open.’ A few seconds later Frankie Downes handed me the keys and he said something like, ‘You look after the keys will you?’ I just put them in my pocket.”

On Tuesday, however, Mr Doyle said his memory was that it was doorman Michael Kavanagh who had handed the keys to Mr Downes, and that it was about 10pm as people were queuing to get in.

“Mr Kavanagh came in through the doors. The next man... was Mr Downes... He gave him the keys... and he gave me the keys. The door was so crowded, we were organising people coming in, I just automatically put them in my pocket,” Mr Doyle told the court.

In his 1981 statements, Mr Doyle referred to a meeting at the Silver Swan pub on the morning after the fire to which staff had been summoned “as [venue manager Eamonn] Butterly’s solicitor wanted statements from everyone who was working”.

Mr Doyle said in his 1981 statement: “Mick Kavanagh started to cry and he was comforted by Eamonn Butterly.

“On the following Wednesday [doorman] PJ Murphy and myself went up to Mick Kavanagh’s house to see Mick. We wanted to ask him if he unlocked the exits or not that night. He was not there... PJ Murphy said to Mick’s father and mother, ‘If Mick did not open the exits he should go to the police station and tell them the truth.’ I suggested he should get in touch with the [media] and make a statement that he did not open the exits.”

Fresh inquests into the deaths of the 48 people 42 years ago are taking place following a 2019 direction from then attorney general Séamus Woulfe.

[ Stardust Inquests into the deaths of 48 people killed in the 1981 Dublin nightclub fire ]

[ Stardust inquests witness stood down after claim he let management ‘off the hook’ ]

Earlier on Tuesday, Declan Burnett, who was a 15-year-old glass washer at the time of the fire, described running for a fire extinguisher when he became aware of the blaze.

“Eamonn Butterly shouted to [a doorman], ‘The exits, get them out,’” he said.

He followed another man and “padded” his way along a wall in a corridor until he “stumbled” out and down steps.

“I could hear people screaming, shouting. I couldn’t see a thing until I got outside,” he said.

Asked by Mark Tottenham BL, for the coroner, to “describe in as much detail as possible what that was like”, Mr Doyle said: “I’d prefer not to, no.”

Later, Des Fahy KC, for the families of nine of the dead, said he did not want to cause Mr Burnett “extra upset” in any of his questions.

“I am reliving this and I shouldn’t have to relive this, so it is a problem,” said Mr Burnett.

Mr Doyle resumes his evidence on Wednesday.