Stardust fire: Doormen and management ‘conspired’ to tell gardaí ‘untruths’, inquests hear

Senior doormen and management at the Stardust nightclub in north Dublin, in which 48 people died in a fire in 1981, were part of “conspiracies” to tell gardaí and a tribunal of inquiry “untruths” about whether emergency exits had been unlocked, inquests into the deaths heard on Wednesday.

Leo Doyle, a 33-year-old senior doorman at the time of the disaster, faced a second day of robust examination by Bernard Condon, SC, for families of 10 of the dead.

Questioned on inconsistencies between his 1981 statements to gardaí and evidence to the inquests, he heard suggestions he was “involved with other doormen in telling untruths [and] deliberately misleading gardaí”.

Fresh inquests into the deaths of 48 people, aged 16-27, in the early hours of February 14th, 1981, are under way following a 2019 direction by then attorney general, Séamus Woulfe, that they be opened.

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Mr Doyle had told gardaí on Friday, February 20th, 1981 that head doorman Tom Kennan had said at about 1.30am – just before the fire was first seen in the venue – that all six emergency exits had been unlocked.

This statement was given following a series of events, starting at 4am on February 14th, outside the Stardust. These were outlined by Mr Condon on Wednesday.

Mr Condon said senior management gathered outside the Stardust as the building smouldered and agreed to return to the Silver Swan pub, adjacent to the ballroom, at 10am. One of the doormen, Mick Kavanagh who was 20 years old at the time, told a journalist at the scene at about 5am that he had unlocked all the exits at 9.20pm.

Doormen and other staff met at the Silver Swan at 10am, returning at 2pm to make statements to the solicitor acting for the manager, Eamon Butterly. Later that day they gave statements to gardaí.

That afternoon, the Evening Herald published Mr Kavanagh’s claims to have unlocked the doors. Mr Kavanagh repeated his claim on RTÉ’s Today Tonight television programme on Monday, February 16th, the inquests heard.

However, Mr Condon noted Mr Kavanagh also told friends named O’Toole that he had not unlocked the doors, telling them: “‘Those poor people died like rats in there ... It was padlocked’.” Mr Kavanagh’s girlfriend, Paula Byrne (19), was among those who died.

[ Timeline: The Stardust disaster - a decades-long campaign for truth ]

The O’Tooles reported what Mr Kavanagh had told them to gardaí on Tuesday after the fire, Mr Condon said. On Thursday, February 19th, Mr Kavanagh retracted his previous statement, admitting he had not unlocked the exits.

Mr Condon put it to Mr Doyle that he had called to Mr Kavanagh’s house twice in the week after the fire “to keep him straight” and “to interfere with what evidence he was about to give”. Mr Doyle denied that was the purpose of his visits.

“Mick Kavanagh had conveniently stated, whether he was put up to it or not, in a tissue of lies that he had opened the doors on the night of the fire. And the doormen, Mr Kennan and Mr Butterly and you were happy with that proposition because it got you off the hook,” Mr Condon said.

“But Mr Kavanagh was also telling other people ... the O’Tooles who went to the guards to say, ‘Kavanagh has actually told us the doors were padlocked’. And it became clear in the middle of that week that you, the doormen, had to change course. You needed another door-opener. Step forward Mr Kennan.”

On February 20th, all the doormen, including Mr Doyle, were “rounded up” by gardaí and questioned as to whether emergency exits had been unlocked and by whom, Mr Condon said.

Describing the narratives, first that Mr Kavanagh had unlocked the exits, and later that Mr Kennan had, as “conspiracies”, Mr Condon asked: “Do you accept both of those are untrue?”

“Well at this stage I don’t know ... which one is true and which is a lie,” answered Mr Doyle.

[ ‘Why were our children brought into a fire trap?’: Stardust families seek answers ]

“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.

“I wouldn’t know what condition they were in. I wouldn’t remember,” Mr Doyle said.

Mr Doyle returns to the stand on Thursday.