Stardust manager Eamon Butterly has told an inquest that if he were to do anything different in matters surrounding the fire that killed 48 people, he "never" would have become involved with converting the former factory into a nightclub.
Mr Butterly, who is in his fifth day as a witness at the inquests into the deaths of those who died in the fire, also denied that he had told "lies" over "contradictory" statements.
Mr Butterly was being cross-examined on Thursday by Michael O’Higgins SC, about the blaze that swept through the Stardust club in the early hours of February 14th 1981.
The jury has already heard that Mr Butterly told gardaí that the practice of draping padlocked chains over the panic bars of exit doors in the nightclub “originated from the doormen” and was not something he ordered them to do.
Mr O’Higgins, representing a number of the families of the victims, has said there was a conflict between what Mr Butterly originally told the gardaí and what he had told the jury in this inquest.
Locked doors
Mr Butterly has agreed that he told a 1981 tribunal that he "100 per cent owned" the decision to keep doors at the club locked, but has told the ongoing inquest that this was a joint policy with door staff.
Mr Butterly (78) said the policy was the head doorman's [Tom Kennan] initiative and could not say how much of the policy he was “willing to own". However, Mr Butterly accepted that the evidence he has now given to the Dublin District Coroner’s Court is “contradictory” to evidence he gave to the original tribunal into the fire.
He put it to Mr Butterly that the reason his accounts of events and conversations around the time with the now-deceased Mr Kennan along with Mr Butterly's father and others were "so vague and contradictory is because they are not founded on truth".
Mr Butterly replied: "Are you saying that I am telling lies?", to which Mr O'Higgins replied, "Yes, I am."
"I am not telling lies," said Mr Butterly.
Mr O'Higgins put it to Mr Butterly that he had told gardaí in 1981 that a policy of draping chains over exit doors had only been in place for "three weeks" but had told the then tribunal it had been in place for years.
Mr Butterly said he had not been telling one version to the guards and another to the tribunal and had signed a statement from his solicitor to gardaí about questions on the exit-door policy.
Mr O'Higgins suggested that the reference to three weeks, rather than years, was to "minimise the wrongdoing, to protect yourself against criticism and was self-serving and untrue".
Mr Butterly denied the suggestions made by Mr O'Higgins.
Mr O'Higgins asked in his final question: "Is there anything you would do differently?"
"The only thing: I would have never have gotten involved in converting that factory into a nightclub," said Mr Butterly.
At a previous sitting of the inquests, Mr O'Higgins said that when Mr Butterly was asked by gardaí about the policy of locking and unlocking exit doors, Mr Butterly had replied: “Exit doors five, six and one [of six doors in total], were normally opened between 11.30pm and 12am.”
Mr O’Higgins said that Mr Butterly had told gardaí that most doormen had no responsibility for checking if the doors were unlocked, and this responsibility was placed on the head doorman [Mr Kennan].
Mr O’Higgins said that gardaí had put it to Mr Butterly that some doormen had said it was normal procedure to unlock fire exit doors before discos, and he was asked why this had not taken place on the night of February 13th 1981, until about midnight.
“The policy of unlocking the remaining doors at approximately 11.30pm was forced on me by the fact that a large number of people were getting in for free due to the actions of their friends who were opening exit doors from the inside,” Mr Butterly told gardaí.
Mr O’Higgins said that Mr Butterly had told gardaí that “the policy of not opening exit doors five, six and one until approximately 11.30pm was decided on”.
