A man living 600 metres from the Stardust nightclub, in which 48 young people died in a fire in February 1981, saw fire from the venue more than 10 minutes before it was first seen inside, inquests into the deaths have heard.
Noel Scully, who was a 36-year-old service engineer at the time of the disaster, told Dublin coroner’s court on Friday he had just gone to bed at his home on Kilmore Close at about 1am on February 14th, 1981, when he “heard a noise coming from the back of the house”.
He told gardaí in his statement made on February 17th, 1981, the sound was “like wet sheets blowing in the wind on the line” and told the inquests it was like “bottles bursting”.
“I got out of bed and looked out and I saw black smoke coming from the direction of the Stardust. I got out of bed and dressed. As I left the room my wife told me it was twenty past one,” he told gardaí.
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He described leaving driving towards the Stardust complex where, he said, he met an boy of about 17 years who was burnt and blackened by smoke. He estimated this to have happened between 1.25am and 1.30am.
Fresh inquests are being held into the deaths of 48 people aged 16 to 27 in the fire in the early hours of February 14th 1981 following a 2019 direction by the then attorney general Séamus Woulfe on the grounds the 1982 inquests had not sufficiently inquired into the cause and surrounding circumstances of the tragedy.
Mr Scully is the first witness to give evidence saw the fire from outside the venue. The inquests have heard repeatedly the fire was first seen inside the building on a bank of seats, at about 1.40am.
Asked if he was “certain” about his timings, Mr Scully said on Friday the radio clock in his and his wife’s bedroom “kept pretty good time” and that it had shown the correct time when the morning news came on.
Pressed again on his timings by Sean Guerin SC for the families of nine of the dead, he said: “I saw the fire before I left the house. That’s what got me out of bed. So the fire had started quite definitely before 1.30. When the people inside found that out, or not, it quite definitely started before.”
Gabriel O’Neill, a former doorman at the Stardust, initially told gardaí in 1981 one of the emergency exits, known as exit 5, was unlocked when the fire broke out, but later “had second thoughts” and decided to “tell the true story” the inquests heard. He had been working at the club for about a month on the night of the fire.
When he made his statement about 10 days after he initially said he “ran to exit number 5. It was free and easy to open”.
The statement was read over to him as he made it, the inquests heard, and he was asked if it was correct.
“I now have second thoughts and I now wish to say there are parts of it not correct ... any reference I made to exit number five and my opening it is not correct. I now want to tell the true story.
“I pulled the chain [at exit 5] and I saw the chain was locked. I pulled the chain a couple of times but it did not give way and the door did not open. I presumed the doors were locked with the chain. I tried to open this door for five or six seconds ... I tried hard but failed to open it.”
He ran towards nearby exit 4 and had his back to it as he tried to call people towards it. “The fire was getting bad then and the smoke was very dense. I then turned to go out exit 4 and the lights went out.
“I got out all right. Exit number 5 was still closed when I got out.” He saw Stardust manager Eamon Butterly and deputy head doorman Leo Doyle open exit 5 from the outside, he said. He did not see anyone exit though here however. “I saw a girl inside lying on her back not moving and she was burning.
“By this time the fire was getting a good grip ... I helped one person out the number 4 exit,” he said.
Mr O’Neil told gardaí in 1981 the reason he had first failed to say exit 5 was locked “was because I felt guilty about not being able to open it”.
He repeated this on Friday, telling Mark Tottenham, BL for the inquests: “By the time I had came to give my statement about ten days had elapsed and my recollection is I had breathed in quite a lot of fumes and ... smoke ... and my recollection of events was not very clear. But I also I felt very guilty that I had failed to open a door that ... possibly could have been used by people.”
Asked if he had had “any discussion” about his statement with co-workers before making it, he said he had not, adding: “I didn’t know anyone at that club to converse with them.”
