Leo Doyle tells Coroner’s Court he was handed keys to all emergency exits the night before the disaster, and heard exits had been opened
Asked on Tuesday by Simon Mills SC, for the coroner, about this, Mr Doyle said: “I don’t recall it, sorry.”Stardust assistant manager knew emergency exits were locked and did nothing to stop it, inquests heardMr Mills then took him through his February 20th, 1981 Garda statement in which he said: “At 1.30am on February 14th, Thomas Kennan handed all of the keys of the Stardust club to [doorman] Frankie Downes in my presence at the main door.
On Tuesday, however, Mr Doyle said his memory was that it was doorman Michael Kavanagh who had handed the keys to Mr Downes, and that it was about 10pm as people were queuing to get in. In his 1981 statements, Mr Doyle referred to a meeting at the Silver Swan pub on the morning after the fire to which staff had been summoned “as [venue manager Eamonn] Butterly’s solicitor wanted statements from everyone who was working”.
“On the following Wednesday [doorman] PJ Murphy and myself went up to Mick Kavanagh’s house to see Mick. We wanted to ask him if he unlocked the exits or not that night. He was not there... PJ Murphy said to Mick’s father and mother, ‘If Mick did not open the exits he should go to the police station and tell them the truth.’ I suggested he should get in touch with the [media] and make a statement that he did not open the exits.
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