A former Stardust doorman has said he felt attempts were being made to “blame” him for the exit doors being locked at the time of the fatal fire and agreed that he was left “swinging in the wind”.
Michael Kavanagh, who was a 20-year-old part-time doorman in February 1981, also told the inquests at Dublin District Coroner’s Court the practice of locking doors while people were inside was a “horrible policy” and agreed that the Stardust complex was the kind of place where “the right hand didn’t know what the left hand was doing”.
Mr Kavanagh confirmed that he felt he was being made a “sacrificial lamb” for the doors being locked because he was the person who would normally have opened the exits at the club.
He agreed with Des Fahy KC, representing a number of families of the deceased, that he had told the tribunal of inquiry before Mr Justice Ronan Keane in 1981 that at a point between 12am and 12.15am every exit in the building was locked.
He confirmed to Dublin District Coroner’s Court that he did not see anyone open those doors.
“You also knew didn’t you that efforts or attempts were being made to blame you for those doors being locked at the time of the fire?” he was asked by Mr Fahy. “That’s what I felt, yes,” said Mr Kavanagh.
Doors locked
Questioned whether the policy of keeping doors locked until after midnight came about following an incident on St Stephen’s night after doormen had been found to be allowing people into the club and keeping the money for themselves, the witness said he didn’t “know anything about that” because “I was not involved in it”.
Mr Fahy put it to the witness that in his evidence to the inquests, deputy head doorman Leo Doyle had admitted that people had been let into the complex on St Stephen’s night 1980 through the Lantern Rooms – another venue on the same site - by doormen and that he [Mr Doyle] and other doormen got money out of this.
He said Mr Doyle had named Mr Kavanagh as someone who had been on duty in the Lantern Rooms that night.
Mr Kavanagh said at “no stage” was he “ever in any receipt of any money”.
He said if he was on duty in the Lantern Rooms that night, he would have been at the main entrance into the Lantern Rooms and not at the passageway between the kitchen and the Stardust where he believed people were let in.
Policy
Asked if he now accepts that the policy of draping [chains over exit doors] and the policy of “mock locking” them was dangerous, Mr Kavanagh replied: “I said it was dangerous. I did say it at the time.”
He told counsel he said to Mr Doyle: “Well who’s making up this decision”.
Mr Kavanagh said he realised at the time that it would be dangerous to have fire exits locked if a fire broke out. Asked if anyone ever spoke to Stardust manager Eamon Butterly about it, Mr Kavanagh said “not that I know of”.
He confirmed that he knew the danger if fire had broken out but did nothing about it.
“What do you think about that decision now?” Mr Fahy asked.
“Today what do I think about it? It was a horrible policy. It was horrible not to have done something about it,” said Mr Kavanagh.
The former doorman told Mr Fahy that he had received no training in fire safety or evacuation but agreed the one thing he was shown how to do was to drape chains and padlocks over the doors to make them appear locked.
Mr Fahy put it to the witness that a person who had paid into the Stardust club and was trying to get out in an emergency would look at a door and would believe that it was chained and locked.
Mr Kavanagh said he would “assume so” but added it “doesn’t take a genius” to know that the door wasn’t locked at that stage.
“What I’m trying to say is that if someone went over and looked at that door properly, they would realise that the door wasn’t fully locked. That they could actually open the door.”
“What if there is a fire behind them, smoke all around them, crowds of people congregating round an exit?” Mr Fahy asked.
“Well then obviously it was different that night,” the witness said, after clarifying that counsel was referring to the night of the fire.
“Because they were locked?” said Mr Fahy.
“When I seen them locked they were locked. After that I don’t remember seeing them,” Mr Kavanagh replied.
Mr Fahy asked the doorman how he got himself into a situation where he told James “Jimmy” O’Toole and his son Michael O’Toole - a friend of Mr Kavanagh - that the exits were locked but within two hours was telling a journalist that he had opened all the doors.
Lied to gardaí
The inquest heard James O'Toole had told gardaí that in the early hours of February 14th 1981, Mr Kavanagh told him that four exits were padlocked and two were unpadlocked. He said Mr Kavanagh also told him that the doors were always locked and that he was under instructions to keep them locked.
Mr Kavanagh has admitted that he lied when he initially told gardaí and the press that he had opened the doors of the nightclub on the night.
“I was approached by the press, I don’t know why I said it.”
“How did you get to the situation where you were saying black and then all of a sudden white?” counsel asked.
“I’ve no idea why I said what I said to the reporters. I’ve no idea,” said Mr Kavanagh.
He confirmed that between the two events he had been at the Stardust in the company of Eamon Butterly and others.
“What I’m asking you is was there any connection between those?” said Mr Fahy. “No because I can’t remember what was said to me,” the witness replied.
Asked if something was said to him, Mr Kavanagh said he would “assume” it was “about the fire”. He said it was “only logical” that was what he would have been speaking about.
Mr Fahy asked if the state of the doors had been spoken about, Mr Kavanagh said: “No, not that I remember”.
“I don’t remember talking about the fire exits until I made a stupid statement later that evening,” he said.
Mr Fahy put it to the witness that he hadn’t only made the statement about opening the doors once - which might have been explained as “acting stupidly” – but he had repeated it four times in total: To the Evening Herald, at his football club on Sunday night, to RTÉ and then to gardaí.
“I’m going to suggest to you once is stupidity but to say it four time looks like something that has been thought about a little more,” said Mr Fahy.
Mr Kavanagh said his head “was not in the right place” at the time.
Counsel questioned whether the other doormen were on his mind at that stage. “You do have some loyalty towards them, yes,” said Mr Kavanagh.
He agreed that this changed after doormen Leo Doyle and PJ Murphy visited his home. “Did you realise then, along with your father, that these men didn’t have your back at all?” said Mr Fahy.
“Exactly, when I had the conversation with my father and my sister I, knew I had to start thinking about me and that’s what I did,” he said.
Scapegoat
The inquest heard that in his second statement to gardaí, Mr Kavanagh said that on February 18th, 1981, Mr Doyle and Mr Murphy called to his home and asked his mother to tell him to go on television or to tell the paper that he [Mr Kavanagh] had got the keys and was responsible for opening the fire exit doors at the Stardust on the night of the fire.
He said his mother told him this when he came home and this prompted him to go to the police and tell them the whole truth as he felt they wanted to make a “scapegoat” out of him.
Mr Kavanagh confirmed to the lawyer that prior to that he had been thinking about himself and the doormen together. “Did you feel they were leaving you swinging in the wind then?”
“That’s the way I felt at the time yes,” said Mr Kavanagh.
He agreed that he felt he was going to be a “sacrificial lamb” and felt he was going to be made a “scapegoat” for the doors being locked at the time the fire broke out.
The former doorman confirmed to Michael O’Higgins SC, representing a number of families of those who died including Mr Kavanagh’s girlfriend at the time, Paula Byrne, that the first he knew about the policy of keeping the doors locked was when Leo Doyle told him he was “not to open them”.
He agreed he [Mr Kavanagh] had only heard about it because he was seen going off with the keys.
“Is it a fair comment to say that the right hand didn’t know what the left hand was doing. Was it that kind of place?” Mr O’Higgins asked.
“Well by the sounds of it, yes,” Mr Kavanagh said.
