THE FORMER MANAGER of the Stardust nightclub, where 48 people died in a fire in 1981, has given evidence for the first time at new inquests into the blaze.
Eamon Butterly is seen as crucial in determining the events of the night and the circumstances that led to the largest fire disaster in the history of the State.
Mr Butterly has been referenced frequently in the inquests to date, including by doormen who told the court that he was responsible for issuing instructions on the locking and unlocking of emergency exit doors.
Mr Butterly was 36 at the time of the fire at the nightclub, located in Artane on Dublin’s northside and was owned by his father Patrick. He is now 78. Mr Butterly and his father, Patrick Butterly, previously maintained that the fire was caused by arson. A previous tribunal came to a similar verdict, but this was struck from the public record decades later.
Today’s hearing of Dublin District Coroner’s Court, held in the Round Room of the Rotunda Hospital, was standing room only as families of those who died and survivors filled the public gallery.
The sitting began with the court’s registrar reading out statements previously given by Mr Butterly in the wake of the fire, including one garda statement in 1981 in which he was asked when the doors of the nightclub were unlocked.
He said that three of the exits would be unlocked before or at 10pm, and the remainder at around 11.30pm for security reasons, namely that a “large number of people were getting in for free” by opening the doors from inside and that the decision was “forced” upon him because of this.
He said the doors were never left unlocked for the entire night, and that on the night of the fire, he personally saw several doors unlocked and the head doorman confirmed to him that the remaining doors were also unlocked.
During questioning by the coroner’s legal team, Mr Butterly maintained that he never saw any exit doors locked at the Stardust, and if he had, “there would be trouble”.
He also told the court he didn’t know why some exits were being kept locked for longer, but that it was normal practice “until I found out and I told [head doorman Thomas Kennan] to stop doing it”.
The inquests heard from other witnesses who gave evidence that in the weeks running up to the fire, it was common practice for doormen to lock emergency exits to stop patrons allegedly sneaking their friends in for free, before being opened later in the night. Some alleged that this was an order that came from Mr Butterly.
Mr Butterly told the court today it was not policy, but was something Mr Kennan “told me he was doing”.
During questioning by Gemma McLoughlin-Burke BL, he maintained that his reaction to learning this was “not to have them locked”.
Ms McLoughlin-Burke sought further clarification on this from Mr Butterly:
You’ve said that that’s what he told you he was doing, but then you’ve also said that you’d never allow that. I don’t understand how those two come together, because he has told you that’s what he was saying.
“Yeah, but he had to stop doing it.. if he was doing it, I didn’t know,” Mr Butterly responded.
“You said you did know because you said he told you that’s what he was doing,” Ms McLoughlin-Burke said.
Mr Butterly responded: “Yeah, and I told him to stop it.”
Mark Tottenham BL, also with the coroner’s legal team, questioned Mr Butterly on what fire safety measures were in place at the nightclub.
He referenced 1967 standards published by government, which Mr Butterly said he was not aware of, nor did he recall them being brought to his attention.
Mr Tottenham listed clauses contained in these standards, such as the appointment of a fire officer, forming a team who could help fight a fire until emergency services arrived, and making an evacuation plan. Mr Butterly replied that he did not recall any discussion or consideration being given to these measures.
Mr Butterly added, in relation to displaying what was called a “fire plan” in the premises, that if they were required to do something like this, they would have done so.
He told the court that he was never advised to do so by either Dublin Corporation or Harold Gardner, an architectural draughtsman working with Butterly on the Stardust complex.
Mr Butterly also said basic firefighting training was not provided to staff as he didn’t have the expertise to do so.
“Would you not have looked for such expertise?” Mr Tottenham asked.
“I don’t know, I didn’t, I didn’t know I had to. I thought the fire brigade people might,” Mr Butterly responded.
Mr Butterly later told Ms McLoughlin-Burke that there was “nobody” responsible for providing fire training to staff.
Counsel for the coroner also referred to several incidents where people on the Stardust premises noticed sparks, smoke, or power issues. Mr Butterly told the court that he did not notice any of the issues nor were they brought to his attention. He referenced frequent ESB power cuts as the potential cause of electrical glitches.
On one occasion, in the weeks before the fire, several witnesses saw what was described as ‘dust, fog, mist or smoke’, and that a search of the building was carried out to try to find the source. Several managers were present, Ms McLoughlin-Burke said.
“Nobody ever told me – that should have been reported immediately,” he said.
The court heard previous evidence given by Mr Butterly in which he gave an overview of the changing use of the premises over time, which included the manufacture of plastics, chocolate, and jam at various points. It was not until 1977 that it was converted into a recreational complex.
The previous statement gave the jury extensive detail on Mr Butterly’s preparations for fitting out the Stardust nightclub, as well as the associated pub and function room. This included sourcing materials like carpet tiles used on the walls, which Mr Butterly said he sought fire certificates for, and the installation of hinges and panic bolts to emergency exits.
There were also references to Mr Butterly’s actions on the night of the fire. The jury heard how, upon seeing that fire extinguishers were having little effect on the fire, he told the doormen to focus on getting people out of the club. He also directed fire crews to an underground storage tank which contained thousands of gallons of water, which they used to tackle the blaze.
Mr Butterly will continue to give evidence tomorrow.
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