Dermot O’Neill describes panic as Stardust inquest hears

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Dermot O’Neill described panic as the Stardust inquests heard evidence on 13 June 2023. The nightclub was in north Dublin.

O’Neill said he saw a small fire behind a screen in the west alcove and thought it could be controlled fairly easily. By the time he reached the main entrance and foyer, he said smoke had taken over. People trying to retrieve coats formed a crush as they moved towards the exit.

He said he had no fire training and was unaware of any practice of locking doors at certain times. The inquests were examining the circumstances of the deaths of 48 people in the 1981 fire and were continuing at the time of the report.