Stardust manager says exit doors weren't kept locked out of 'greed' or 'arrogance' 

 Eamon Butterly, former manager of the Stardust club.

The former manager of the Stardust nightclub has admitted it was “wrong” to keep exit doors locked and chained while members of the public were on the premises, but said they weren’t kept locked out of “greed” or “arrogance”.

Amid tense scenes at Dublin District Coroner’s Court on his seventh day of evidence, Eamon Butterly agreed that he knew the practice of keeping some of the emergency exit doors locked until 11.30pm or midnight on disco nights was a breach of the requirements of Dublin Corporation at the time and a “serious fire hazard”.

However, he repeated again that all the doors were open and unlocked at the time of the fire in the early hours of February 14, 1981.

During proceedings, Brenda Campbell KC referenced the evidence of an inspector from Dublin Corporation, now Dublin City Council, who visited the Stardust and adjacent Silver Swan and Lantern Rooms on multiple occasions before the fire.

In statements made following the fire, Martin Donohoe described visiting the premises on multiple occasions, finding exits obstructed and doors locked and chained.

According to a note from Mr Donohoe, on one occasion he told Mr Butterly that an exit was locked and chained, Mr Butterly’s response was he “thought this was all right”.

Ms Campbell put it to Mr Butterly that he tried to “blag” his way out of the situation but he denied this and said if people saw locks on doors they should’ve told someone in charge. “It should never have happened,” he said.

The concerns of Mr Donohoe on obstructions around doors were flagged as early as the summer of 1979, the inquests heard.

Dublin Corporation letter

When an exit passageway was found obstructed on the night of a concert by The Specials in the Stardust in January 1981, this prompted a letter from Dublin Corporation to raise its concerns.

That letter, to Mr Butterly’s father Patrick, said: “Your attention is drawn to [byelaws] which require that special care shall be taken to ensure that the means of escape provided for all persons on the premises are at all times maintained unobstructed and immediately available.” 

The letter said unless immediate reassurance was received that exits would be kept clear, proceedings would be initiated against the owners of the Stardust.

In reply, Eamon Butterly said the obstruction on that night was cleared immediately and that “I assure you it will not happen again”.

“Again, I assure you that all exits will be kept clear when the public are on the premises,” Mr Butterly wrote on January 27, 1981.

Ms Campbell asked why Mr Butterly said this to the Corporation given the practice was in place of keeping some doors locked until around midnight on disco nights.

He said “they shouldn’t have been locked up to that time” and denied it was “greed” or “arrogance” that led to this policy.

Mr Butterly continues his evidence on Friday.