THERE IS SET to be a significant shift in a long-running State inquiry examining allegations of a cover-up in the case of convicted child abuser Bill Kenneally.

The Commission of Investigation will hold hearings in public for the first time – starting  Monday 11 September, four years after it first got under way.

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”.

A number of survivors of Kenneally’s abuse allege that there was collusion which prevented the sex offender, who was jailed in 2016, from being arrested and charged at a much earlier stage.

The Journal understands that among those expected to give evidence over the coming weeks are senior gardaí, a former Fianna Fáil TD and a number of current and former journalists.

Chief Superintendent of the Waterford and Kilkenny/Carlow garda divisions Anthony Pettit is believed to be among the witnesses at the Dublin Dispute Resolution Centre in Dublin 7.

Also expected is Brendan Kenneally, a former Fianna Fáil Minister of State who served as a TD for Waterford for 17 years. He is a cousin of Bill Kenneally, with both men members of a well-known Fianna Fáil family with an Oireachtas presence stretching back to the 1950s.

Reporters understood to be in line to give evidence – and who covered developments in the case over the past decade – include former RTÉ south-east correspondent Damien Tiernan, Irish Times southern correspondent Barry Roche, former Irish Daily Mirror reporter Saoirse McGarrigle and Eamon Dillon of the Sunday World.

‘Empowered to investigate’

Speaking in June 2018 during the initial Dáil exchange to approve the establishment of the Commission, then-Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan told deputies that it would examine what gardaí knew of Kenneally outside of the years 1985 to 1992.

“If information emerges indicating that gardaí were informed of the allegations against Mr Kenneally, either before or after those particular years, then the commission is empowered to investigate that information further,” Flanagan said at the time.

A spokesperson for the inquiry, which is overseen by Mr Justice Michael White, said it was moving to a “public phase of hearings” for its latest module over the next fortnight.

Last May, the former sports coach received a four-and-a-half-year sentence for abusing five boys on unknown dates between December 1979 and March 1990.

The 72-year-old accountant, from Laragh, Summerville Avenue, Waterford, had already been serving a 14-year sentence for abusing 10 boys from 1984 to 1987.

Public campaign

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

The Department of Justice told The Journal that the Commission is “moving to a public phase of hearings commencing Monday 11 September” and will take place at the Dublin Dispute Resolution Centre in the Law Library.

The public hearings will take place across Monday to Wednesday each of the next two weeks.

In May, the Commission told The Journal that the hearings should be concluded by the end of the year. A report of Mr Justice White’s findings will be issued later.

Jason Clancy, one of the survivors who came forward to make disclosures about Kenneally’s abuse for his original conviction in 2016, said he welcomed news that the commission will now take place in public.

“From the outset we wanted it to be held in public but unfortunately the case against Bill Kenneally that had to be heard in the criminal courts meant it just wasn’t possible for the inquiry to be held in public,” he said.

“There was a point where we thought the inquiry would never get up and running properly but Judge White, who is excellent and very efficient to be fair, had to to be very careful that the work of the commission did not interfere with the criminal process.

“We were very conscious of that as well, because those victims were entitled to get their justice in the criminal court the same as we did.

Clancy added: “It’s absolutely in the public interest so the public can understand and hear what went on.”

Dublin Rape Crisis Centre’s freephone 24-Hour National Helpline is at 1800 77 8888
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