A STATE-LED INVESTIGATION into alleged collusion surrounding child abuser Bill Kenneally can be concluded this year, according to the Commission of Investigation overseen by Mr Justice Michael White.

One of the survivors who came forward to make disclosures has said that following concerns about the Commission’s progress, he has found it has had a “new impetus” over the past two years.

The Commission was formed in 2019 following a campaign by survivors into the handling of complaints of sexual abuse against the former basketball coach.

It’s examining allegations of collusion between An Garda Síochána, the Diocese of Waterford and Lismore, the former South Eastern Health Board, Basketball Ireland and unnamed “political figures”. 

Kenneally, (72) of Laragh, Summerville Avenue, Waterford, received a further four-and-a-half-year sentence earlier this week for abusing five boys on unknown dates between December 1979 and March 1990.

The accountant had already been serving a 14-year sentence for abusing 10 boys from 1984 to 1987.

The assaults, involving masturbation and oral sex, occurred at his family home, along with various locations in laneways and lay-bys in the south east. 

When contacted, the Department of Justice said the Commission of Investigation’s work is separate and independent of it, but it provided a response on its ongoing work. 

“The Commission will continue to have hearings throughout 2023 and anticipates that it will conclude its hearings this year.

“Since Judge White took over as chair [from retired judge Barry Hickson], the Commission has conducted hearings in November/December 2021, March/April 2022, June/July 2022, November 2022, December 2022, April 2023 and May 2023.”

A report detailing its findings by Mr Justice White will most likely be published next year.

Jason Clancy, who was among the men whose disclosures resulted in Kenneally’s imprisonment in 2016, said he hopes the conclusion of the latest criminal case will mean the Commission can move toward quicker towards its final stages.  

“It had to make sure that we didn’t impede on that current criminal case that Kenneally was involved in with those five victims but now that that’s finished, I know that the Commission can really move forward at a higher speed,” Clancy said.  

A number of survivors of Kenneally’s abuse allege that there was collusion which prevented the sex offender from being arrested and charged at a much earlier stage.

Kenneally is a member of a well-known Fianna Fáil family in Waterford, being the grandson and nephew of William Kenneally Snr and William Kenneally Jnr, who both served as Dáil deputies for Waterford. He was a tallyman during election time.

His grandfather served as a TD for Waterford from 1952 to 1961, while his uncle served from 1965 to 1982.

The Kenneally family also ran a busy coach hire and public bus service in Waterford.

The most recent trial heard from one complainant who gave evidence that he went to the garda station the day after Kenneally indecently assaulted him, but there were no records to confirm this.

Another told the court that he didn’t register to vote or allow his wife to register as he knew Kenneally used the electoral roll when canvassing for Fianna Fáil. 

It is unclear at present whether the five men whose cases secured convictions against Kenneally this week will be interviewed by the Commission before it completes its work. 

Clancy said he is unable to comment on specifics around the Commission and its hearings when asked about this.

However, he praised the Commission and its work saying that there has been a “huge impetus” around its work over the past two years.

“We’re very grateful to Justice White and the Commission team and we have no issues with the speed of the inquiry because it’s really moving forward,” Clancy told The Journal this week.

It’s a far cry from when Clancy felt “disillusioned” at the Commission’s progress previously.

He and other survivors had met with the then Justice Minister Helen McEntee in 2021 over concerns that the investigation was taking too long.

“I felt that there wasn’t really anything progressing. And to be fair, our solicitors and barristers felt the same as well. It was just kind of stuck in the mud, and I know Covid had an impact on that as well but we felt it wasn’t satisfactory. We had meetings with the Minister for Justice Helen McEntee and a few changes were made at that point to help it speed up.”

Clancy commended the five men who came forward in the most recent case.

“It was courageous for them to come forward and I was so delighted to see them get that result. The way I view it is, we might have been able to put him in prison in the first place [in 2016] but I think they will have kept him there.”

In victim impact statements read out at Dublin’s Circuit Criminal Court last Monday, one man abused by Kenneally said he “did everything he could to prolong our suffering” and had “shown no remorse”, while another complainant said the abuse robbed him of his confidence and innocence.

Addressing Kenneally directly during sentencing this week, Judge Martin Nolan noted that the 72-year-old said he was ashamed in his letter to the court.

“I hope you are. You deserve to be ashamed of yourself for what you did”.

Contains reporting by Eimear Dodd