The Stardust inquests have heard how a former bouncer at the club saw the fire exits locked on the night of the fatal fire.

Forty-eight people died in the disaster when a blaze swept through the Artane nightclub in the early hours of 14 February 1981.

Fresh inquests into their deaths, which began last April, continued at the Dublin District Coroner's Court, which is sitting on the grounds of the Rotunda Hospital

In a statement given three days after the blaze, Noel Quigley told gardaí that he was trying to let his friend in for free through the emergency exits on the night, but that he could not because the doors were locked with padlocks and chains.

The court heard how he first went to Exit 3 sometime after 11.30pm.

"There was a chain and padlock on this exit. I tried to open the door, but the padlock and chain prevented me."

The inquests were told that Mr Quigley used to work as a bouncer at the club up until around a month before the disaster.

He told the gardaí that "when I worked at the Stardust the practice was to take the padlock and chains off the doors before the dance started".

He also told gardaí that he then went to Exit 6 and that too was locked with a padlock and chain.

"I could not open them because of the lock and chains. I was surprised also at this because the lock and chain should have been removed before the dance," he said.

Mr Quigley told gardaí that he also saw padlocks and chains on exits 4 and 5 but did not attempt to open them as there were staff around.

'I've blocked the whole thing out of my mind'

There was a brief pause in today's proceedings when a witness became upset as he recalled the scene as the fire took hold in the ballroom.

Nicholas Prior told the court how he was first refused admission on the night before he was then let in to the club.

He recalled how he was dancing when he was first alerted to the fire, saying there were people "shouting and roaring".

In the witness box, he became upset as he told the court how he was making his way across the dancefloor and heard an explosion.

The coroner Dr Myra Cullinane paused the proceedings for a short time.

Later, he told the court: "I’ve blocked the whole thing out of my mind. That’s how I’ve dealt with it."