Garda statements given by a doorman at the Stardust, in the aftermath of a fire in which 48 young people died in 1981, provided a picture that was “incomplete”, he agreed at inquests into the deaths on Wednesday.
John Furley, who was 23 at the time of the disaster, said his statements describing his efforts to open one of the six emergency exits, did not convey the rising panic at the door.
Fresh inquests into the deaths of 48 people, aged 16 to 27, in the north Dublin venue in the early hours of 14th February are being held in Dublin following a 2019 recommendation by then attorney general, Séamus Woulfe, that they be opened.
Mr Furley was in the witness box for second day on Wednesday during which he was questioned as to whether he “downplayed” his difficulties opening one of the exits, known as exit 5, in statements in the immediate aftermath.
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He told the inquests: “The smoke was everywhere. You couldn’t see very far. I could hear lads trying to open the door, kicking it, pushing it ... When I got to the door I was shouting at them to push the bars and I got my left hand to the bar and I could feel it rising as someone was pulling it up, and I was screaming to shove the bar ... I think after two attempts the door opened.”
He gave his first account to solicitor for Eamonn Butterly, Stardust manager, at staff-meeting in the Silver Swan bar – part of the Stardust complex – just hours after the blaze.
In a Garda statement later that day, and in subsequent ones, he said exit 5 opened, with the assistance of others, “without difficulty”. In a further Garda statement he said: “I do not know if exit 5 was locked with a chain and padlock or not.”
Brenda Campbell, KC, for families of nine of the dead, read statements from patrons who got out through exit 5, identifying Mr Furley as a “bouncer ... pulling the bar ... kicking the door”. Another quoted by Ms Campbell said: “I saw [the bouncer] kicking the padlock off the door which is exit number 5 ... It took him about three minutes to first open the lock”.
Mr Furley reiterated repeatedly he had not kicked the door to get it open.
Ms Campbell said: “You see, a concern of the families, is that having first committed yourself at that first meeting on 14th to giving an account to the solicitors that really downplayed the door and the difficulties ... you found yourself committed to an account which wasn’t the full picture.
“You were 23 years of age, you had been in an awful, awful event and experience, you knew full well the issue about these doors was central to the investigation into your employers ... So really on behalf of the families Mr Furley, can I ask whether in fact you didn’t give a full account of your experience at that door?” she asked.
“I wasn’t kicking the door and the account I gave was the truth,” he replied.
Michael O’Higgins, SC, representing families of ten of the dead, said his impression from the statements was, there were “six or seven people having a bit of a job” opening the door. “You arrive, you give an instruction, you participate in your instruction and everything is fine”.
Mr Furley said it was not like that. “The place in complete darkness, everyone was terrified, We were panicking because if that door didn’t open there was no other way out. You know, there was kicking the door, hitting the door, the whole lot. I had my hand on the bar. I was screaming at guys to press ... I don’t know if it was pressing the bar or the lads’ force on the door. I don’t know what eventually [opened it].”
“This was a rising scale of bedlam and pandemonium,” said Mr O’Higgins.
“Absolutely,” said Mr Furley.
“And this may be no fault of your own, it could have been in the way the Garda statement was taken. In fact it might have been better taken if there was more detail provided. But certainly, the picture that the Garda statement is providing is incomplete.”
“Correct,” said Mr Furley.
He returns to the witness box on Thursday.
