Harrowing and heartbreaking accounts at Stardust inquests
Eamon Butterly at the Dublin District Coroner's Court, sitting in the Rotunda Hospital, where he gave evidence at the inquests into the Stardust tragedy. Picture: Collins Dublin
The Stardust inquests, which have already sat for 62 days, are being conducted in modules.
Holding the largest inquests in modern Irish history was never going to be a quick process. The fresh examination into the circumstances surrounding the deaths of 48 young people following the fire in the north Dublin nightclub in the early hours of February 14, 1981, is multi-faceted, with much for the jury to consider.
The first part of the inquests featured powerful personal testimonies from the families of the deceased before turning to the evidence the jury will need to consider as it reaches its verdicts.
The staff at the Stardust formed one entire module of these inquests, beginning in June and finishing last week with the evidence of former Stardust manager Eamon Butterly.
If Mr Butterly’s evidence was tough to listen to for the families given his role at the Stardust and his evidence regarding the policy of keeping emergency doors in the venue locked until a certain time on disco nights, this next module of the Stardust will be difficult in its own unique way.
This week, the inquests turned its focus to the patrons there on the night of the fire to hear their often harrowing and heartbreaking accounts of trying to flee the disco when disaster struck.
Most of the people there on the night will now be in their late 50s or 60s. Many of them were just kids at the time, underage but heading to a disco that was ostensibly over-21s because that’s what their friends did at the weekend at the time. They loved it. They’d go every week. And they were let in too.
As is the case with every witness, their original statement to the gardaí back in 1981 is read out before they have questions put to them.
The details that stand out are striking. When being interviewed by gardaí, they remembered what they wore. They remember what their friends wore. They gave their friends’ addresses. They said the songs they danced to, such as Kathleen Deeney who recalled hearing Adam and the Ants playing at around 1.30am just a few minutes before the fire was first noticed.
And, even hearing those details as their accounts switched from the relatively trivial to the panic that would ensue has been enough to stir strong emotions in those giving evidence.
Joseph Cumiskey, just 18 at the time, described how he heard the screams of people trapped inside the toilets as he attempted to break the windows but could make no progress due to a “steel plate” in his way.
“There was nothing I could have done,” he said, openly crying in the court.
Paul Fitzmaurice had been in the Stardust with friends and had been in the company of Mary and Martina Keegan, and David Morton. All three of them died. Mr Fitzmaurice was just 16 years of age at the time.
“My worry was not of the fire, it was of being crushed, there were a lot of people in there screaming,” he said.
“The doors were closed, and nobody could move anywhere, and as people were coming into the hallway, we were getting pushed and squeezed further and further."
Paula Toner became emotional as she described how people who’d made it out were trying to help those who were still in there before the “whole place just went deadly quiet”.
Lorraine Brady, who was 17 at the time, described bringing a cake into the Stardust that evening as friends were celebrating a birthday. She said that if you brought a cake into the Stardust at that time, you’d get a free bottle of champagne for the table.
She, like so many others, tried to get out of the Stardust the same way she’d come in. The main entrance where bouncers searched bags and you paid your £3 entry fee, which included your meal at the end.
The inquests have heard that this door was closed for a period as people were trying to escape, as the lights went out plunging the place into darkness with a crush ensuing.
Ms Brady described being “pushed out” with the crowd and she fell on the steps outside the main door. While still inside, she was aware of many people still behind her.
She described looking back at the front door of the Stardust. Where it had opened to allow her and others to leave moments before, now it was closed again, with evidence from others suggesting it would swing back into a closed position.
“I still have that fear of looking back and seeing the doors closed,” she said. “Knowing there were many people still inside. I knew there were people behind us.”
Evidence was also given from Liam Hennessy, who was 31 years old at the time. Perhaps not quite the age demographic for the Stardust at the time, he said he went there — not for the disco dancing competition — but to get a drink after hours when the pubs would’ve closed.
He described seeing David Flood (18) asleep on a seat when the fire was noticed and trying to shake him and pull him along.
“There was nothing I could do,” he told the court. Seeing a fireball beginning to engulf the venue, he said he, at this stage, had grabbed Mr Flood’s shoulders but “then I let him go”. Mr Flood died in the fire.
Noel Byrne remembered seeing Brendan O’Meara and Eamon Quinn in the Stardust that night, having gone with some friends.
“My understanding was Eamon and Brendan got out where the top fire escape was,” Mr Byrne said. “Eamon was telling me Brendan had gone in a couple of times to bring out people, to help them out.”
Brendan O’Meara died from the injuries he sustained in the Stardust.
The inquests continue.
