The Stardust inquests have heard how a garda sergeant raised concerns about the locking of fire doors with the management of the Stardust seven months before the deadly blaze.
A total of 48 people were killed when a blaze swept through the Artane nightclub in Dublin in the early hours of St Valentines Day 1981.
Bernard McMahon told the inquests about being called out to the nightclub in April in 1980 after an alarm was activated.
In a 1981 garda statement, which was read into the record today, he said doors in the Stardust, which was empty at the time, were "all secured by chains around the bars on the doors and locked with a padlock".
The court heard how he was then was told by the manager of the club Brian Peel that it was "the only way to keep the gougers out".
At the inquests today, Bernard McMahon was asked by Simon Mills, SC, for the coroner, what concerns he raised with Mr Peel.
Mr McMahon replied that there was a lot of discussion at the time about doors being locked and chained and said he wanted to make it clear to Brian Peel that "I wasn't satisfied with the procedure" because of the numbers of people who attended the functions there.
He was asked if he was satisfied that he brought those concerns to Mr Peel.
"I am satisfied," Bernard McMahon replied today.
Later Bernard Condon, SC, representing ten of the victims’ families asked Bernard McMahon if his level of response on that occasion was 'sufficient’ from a member of An Garda Síochána.
"We didn’t have the power to prosecute," the witness replied.
The court also heard how Mr McMahon supervised the preservation of the scene of the fire at 3.45am on the morning in question and stationed gardaí on each exit.
He said this was done to prevent unauthorised access and to preserve and forensic evidence.
The court heard how he came across the general manager of the premises, Eamon Butterly, along with about five others, in the adjoining Silver Swan bar.
"I knew him to see, I didn’t know him personally," he told the court today.
He said he explained to Mr Butterly that he was not happy with their presence there.
"I felt it wasn’t right that there should be anyone in the area," he said.
"Did they leave?" Bernard Condon asked.
"No," Mr McMahon replied and said he "wasn’t quite sure" if that was part of the area to be preserved.
Mr McMahon also said Mr Butterly "made no comment" when the then garda sergeant expressed his dissatisfaction.
The also inquests heard how the army erected a temporary tent at the city morgue in the hours after the fire to accommodate the large number of dead that were recovered from the scene.
Former garda Patrick O'Connell was giving evidence today at the inquests and described the scenes in the morgue in the early hours of that morning.
At the time, he had been a member of the gardaí for three years.
In a garda statement he gave in 1981, and which was read into the record today, he told of how he had escorted the first ambulance carrying the dead to the city morgue in Store Street at 3.30am.
"We remained there on duty recording and assisting in the transfer of bodies," he said and described making room for those brought in it.
He added: "We made space … by moving trollies to accommodate the large amount of bodies which were being brought in. There were eventually forty bodies lying throughout the morgue."
He said a "number of army men" then arrived and began to erect a tent in the yard of the morgue.
The court also heard that a total of 13 ambulances were involved in ferrying the dead that morning between 3.30am and 4.05am.
Earlier, Mr O’Connell told the told the court that he arrived on the scene of the fire at around 2.05am and said at that stage he would have thought the main fire had been extinguished.
"We were looking at the aftermath … sparks and smoke from the interior … that had been hosed down," he said.
He recalled looking into the building and seeing "quite a number of bodies" in the area of the dancefloor.
Replying to questions from Senior Counsel Seán Guerin, representing families of the dead, Mr O’Connell said the situation was being treated as a "human catastrophe" and not a "crime scene" as far as he was aware.
Later the inquests heard how the senior garda in charge of the overall policing operation did not direct for the state pathologist to attend the scene.
Patrick Colleran was a garda inspector at the time and was on duty at the communications centre in Dublin Castle.
The court heard how he was in charge of the garda operation but was not on the scene in Artane and remained in Dublin Castle.
Replying to questions from Des Fahy, KC, representing nine families of the dead, Mr Colleran said he did give a direction that the scene be preserved and secured.
He was also asked, given the fact he knew that there had been fatalities if he gave an order for the State Pathologist to attend the scene. Appearing via video link, Mr Colleran said he had not.
He said he would assume that it would be the officer in charge at the scene who would notify the state pathologist.
"I didn't do it, no" he said, "I wasn’t at the scene". He said today he could not recall the name of the garda officer who was in charge of the scene.
The jury was also told how stage one of the "Emergency Action Plan" was put into force at 2.06am and six minutes later stage two was activated which mobilised the army, the civil defence and others.
The court heard how it was Mr Colleran who made the decision to activate stage two of the plan.
The court heard how at 2.20am, the fire had been brought under control and all the injured had been removed.
