A doorman working at the Stardust nightclub on the night of the fire has been asked about a "conflict" in statements given about the ease in opening an exit door at the Dublin club.
John Furley was giving evidence for the third day at the inquests into the deaths of 48 people in the blaze in the early hours of 14 February 1981.
This morning, Mr Furley was asked by senior counsel Michael O'Higgins about "the conflict in your account and the conflict with other people's" accounts about exit door number five.
As per the previous day's hearing, this question focused on how exit five of the Stardust was eventually opened, and whether this was easily done or if there was a difficulty in doing so.
Mr O'Higgins noted that a colleague - Gabriel O'Neill - initially gave evidence to gardaí on 24 February 1981, saying exit five was relatively easy to open.
However, during this evidence, Mr O'Higgins said Mr O'Neill told gardaí he wanted "to tell the true story", saying: "I pulled the chain a couple of times but it did not give way and the doors did not open. I assumed it was locked by the chain. I tried to open the door for five or six seconds, I tried hard, but could not open it."
Mr O'Higgins said these were "two completely different accounts" and that Mr Furley gave a number of statements at different stages in the weeks after the fire.
Mr Furley confirmed that the morning after the fire he and other doormen spoke at the site with the solicitor for the Butterlys, the owners of the nightclub.
He was then driven to Coolock Garda Station by head doorman Tom Kennan to give a short statement.
"You gave the gardaí a very short statement, and what you said was with the assistance of other men we opened the door, that was the only description of opening exit five, you said people started making their way out and there was panic inside," Mr O'Higgins said.
He asked Mr Furley about a second statement on 17 February 1981 in which he said "after seeing the fire I ran back to exit five, there were a few fellas kicking it to get out. I shouted to them to push the bar down, the door opened easily, it opened outwards".
Mr O'Higgins asked the witness if he remembered gardaí "turning the temperature up" on the doormen working on the night of the fire by making sure they were "rounded up" for a further conversation on 20 February 1981 to clarify what happened.
Mr Furley said he did not recall this meeting or any suggested increased pressure from gardaí at the time.
Quoting from a statement by the witness at that time, Mr O Higgins said: "I was pushing on bar, as I approached I shouted push down at the bar, I made my way through the group, pushed down and made my way out the door.
"Suddenly the two doors flew open, I do not know if I got it open or if it was the force of the youths, I could not be 100% certain."
Mr O'Higgins also showed Mr Furley photographs of exit five of the Stardust, which showed a chain.
He asked if it would normally be "absurd" to open a door and later suggested a chain may have become a "jam" on the door.
Asked by Mr O'Higgins if suggesting patrons did not know how to open the exit "gets Stardust off the hook", Mr Furley said: "I follow you, but that's not true".
After a short break, the jury was informed by the coroner that Mr Furley had been stood down.
The inquests later heard from Alan Maher, who was a part-time barman at the Stardust.
Mr Maher said the night of the fire was his second day working at the venue.
He said that while he saw a colleague go to one of the bars to get a fire extinguisher, his main focus was on the safety of his sister who was also working there.
Mr Maher confirmed to senior counsel Simon Mills that he had not been given training on an emergency situation, on the use of fire extinguishers, or on assisting the evacuation of the premises.
A third witness today - glass washman Joseph McGrane - told the coroner's court that "lots of people" were getting out via exit five of the Stardust.
