Stardust owner believed premises was ‘fireproof’ and had been ‘deliberately burned’

Patrick Butterly, who owned the Stardust nightclub in the north Dublin where 48 young people died in a fire in 1981, believed the premises was “fireproof” and had been “deliberately burned”, inquests into the deaths have heard.

Testimony from Mr Butterly – now dead – given at the 1981 tribunal chaired by Mr Justice Ronan Keane, was read into the record at Dublin coroner’s court on Friday. It is holding fresh inquests into the death of the 48, 10 of whom were children, in the early hours of February 14th, 1981, following a 2019 recommendation by then attorney general Séamus Woulfe that they be opened.

Mr Butterly told the 1981 tribunal he “knew nothing about” fire-protection standards for buildings that had been published in 1967. “You knew nothing about it, never read it and got no advice about it?” he was asked. “No,” he replied.

“On whom did you rely to advise you as to the existence or non-existence?”

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“The local authority, the Dublin Corporation in this case.”

Later he was asked: “Did you realise the running and management of the premises and the safety of the patrons ... was a matter for you, not the corporation?”

“That may be, but it is great after the event ... it is my feeling I should have been instructed by the authority what to do ... Surely to god the fire people knew the place was going to hold 2,000 people. I never saw fire people ... Well surely to god they should have come and seen us and said what to do?” said Mr Butterly in 1981.

Asked about whether he or his son, Eamonn Butterly, venue manager, had ensured carpet tiles used to line the ballroom’s walls were fire-safe, he said: “No, they looked well.” He said he presumed his son “took all precautions ... that were necessary”.

Asked: “Did you know of the practice of locking the padlocks on the exit doors for some hours during discos?” he said: “I did not, no ... I wasn’t running the disco.”

Asked: “Did you know in fact that the staff had not been given any training [in the use of fire-extinguishers]?” he replied: “No, my son looked after the staff.”

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He said he believed the building, which had been converted from a jam factory into the Stardust in 1978, was “fireproof” because “it had a grade one from the insurance company”.

“Did it mention fire in connection with the rating?” Mr Butterly was asked at the 1981 tribunal.

“I presume it did. I am not sure,” he replied. The following day he was asked what he meant by “fireproof”.

“[That] it would not go in fire,” said Mr Butterly.

“Nothing in it could go on fire?”

“As far as I was concerned, except it was deliberately burned. And I still think that.”

Pauline McConalogue, a 17-year-old waitress in the Stardust on the night, was collecting glasses at tables in a tiered seating area at about 1.45am when she saw a fire well under way, she told the inquests.

“The DJ asked patrons not to panic but there was panic. I went towards my left as I faced the stage. I just got a short distance when the lights went out. The place was a mass of flames and the smoke was terrible. I saw the ceiling start to burn and collapse.

“We couldn’t see where the fire exits were. I had never had a fire drill while I was working there. I didn’t know where to go or what to do ... I recall going in the direction and falling and everyone was on top of each other ... I feel at that time I was just dragged out [by] some fellah.”