AN INQUIRY EXAMINING alleged collusion among State agencies surrounding paedophile Bill Kenneally has heard that gardaí only contacted one victim the day after an article was published in a newspaper about the emerging scandal, despite Garda claims they had already tried reaching the man.
The information came to light following a freedom of information (FOI) request by the victim.
Kenneally, a former sports coach and Fianna Fáil tallyman, is currently serving two sentences for sexually abusing 15 boys in periods stretching from 1979 to 1990.
The commission, overseen by Mr Justice Michael White, is 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”.
Gardaí were contacted about Kenneally by Jason Clancy, a Waterford-based survivor, in November 2012 but were criticised for their handling of the investigation.
Clancy was abused by the sports coach in the 1980s and became seriously concerned after learning that his assailant, then in his early 60s, was still working with children through his role as a basketball coach.
‘Ten names’
The inquiry heard he gave gardaí “ten names” of men he believed had been abused by Kenneally.
One of those victims was abroad and gardaí had told Clancy they would contact him through Interpol, the international police organisation. This would assist them in taking a statement from the man about abuse he suffered.
However, Clancy became frustrated about the pace of the investigation and decided to speak to the press in 2013, about five to six months after first contacting gardaí.
On 23 April 2013, an article by Irish Times journalist Barry Roche was published, detailing allegations about a then-unnamed sports coach and abuse of children in the 1980s. It contained concern by the victims that the man was still working with children.
While gardaí had allegedly told Clancy that they had already contacted Interpol to speak to the victim abroad, journalist Saoirse McGarrigle told the commission that a freedom of information request by the overseas victim later revealed that it was the next day when gardaí contacted Interpol.
“They said that because he was residing outside of the country, they would make a request to Interpol to go to his house and take his statement, then send it back to Waterford gardaí,” said McGarrigle, who covered the scandal for the Irish Daily Mirror.
“He [Clancy] was told that the letter was already gone,” she said, adding that when the overseas victim later saw the letter following his FOi request, he realised the date it was “actually sent was 24 April 2013 – that’s the day after the story broke in the Irish Times”.
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.
As part of its work, the commission is examining separate garda investigations in 1987 and 2012. Both have faced criticisms from some of the victims over beliefs that Kenneally could have been charged much earlier.
On its second day since opening to the public, the commission heard briefly from the journalist who broke the original story in April 2013, Irish Times southern correspondent Roche.
Roche said he understood the “importance of the tribunal” having previously reported on calls for its establishment.
He said he wanted to protect confidentially of his sources and agreed that the “origin” of his story came from speaking with unidentified complainants.
His notes, provided to the commission, showed that he interviewed a complainant on 12 March 2013.
When asked if he had any contact with gardaí before that date, Roche said he’d “prefer not to answer if that’s ok with you”.
Roche said he “knew nothing” of certain allegations contained in the commission’s terms of reference until they were raised during Kenneally’s sentencing hearing in 2016. That conviction arose from the criticised 2012 investigation on foot of Jason Clancy’s complaint.
Mr Justice White said that “senior gardaí” who were involved in the 2012 investigation were “absolutely adamant” that “they didn’t leak anything” around the case, and that “their acceleration” of the investigation was as a result of Kenneally being named in the press.
When asked about this, Roche said Kenneally “wasn’t named” in his report and that he couldn’t “shed any light” on the issue.
Monsignor’s resignation
The commission also heard criticisms of an alleged lack of “action” by gardaí and church authorities following complaints by victims of child sexual abuse.
The latest hearing received sworn testimony from former Irish Daily Mirror journalist McGarrigle, who said she became “very invested” in the controversy after learning of it in May 2016, following Kenneally’s conviction for abuse of 10 boys.
She wrote “25-30″ articles about the scandal from 2016 to 2018, upon which media coverage ceased due to the commission and fresh criminal cases against Kenneally.
The inquiry heard that Monsignor John Shine, a Catholic priest in the diocese of Waterford and Lismore who was an uncle of Kenneally, resigned from his role on the board of management of a primary school after abuse survivors petitioned the Vatican over Shine’s knowledge of his nephew’s crimes.
A number of witnesses have said that Shine, who is now deceased, was aware of Kenneally’s abuse as far back as 2002 but did not inform the gardaí or child protection agencies.
Yesterday, the commission heard of an alleged phone call between Shine and a former Fianna Fáil TD which aimed to “suppress accusations” emerging into the public domain.
Former RTÉ south-east correspondent Damien Tiernan told the commission that he was informed by ex-Fianna Fáil TD Donie Ormonde about the phone call made by Shine after the Irish Times article about his nephew was published in April 2013.
Tiernan said he never considered the meeting with Ormonde “off the record”.
The Commission of Investigation was told by McGarrigle that Shine resigned from his role as chairman of the board of management of Holycross National School in Tramore in the same week that the victims brought their campaign to the Vatican.
Bishop Alphonsus Cullinan issued the statement in January 2017 confirming Shine’s departure, with the inquiry hearing from McGarrigle that the bishop had been contacted about the monsignor four months earlier but “only moved once the big boss, the Pope” was involved.
McGarrigle told the inquiry that she contacted the school’s principal but believed he was not aware of Shine’s knowledge and was “very disturbed” by the revelation. However, he felt “his hands were tied”.
“He said he couldn’t speak with me as he was directly employed by the board of management, so essentially Monsignor Shine was his boss,” McGarrigle said.
“The story was published and obviously the victims, their families and their supporters in the community were very angry to find out that this man was still the chairperson of the board of management,” she said.
“But still nothing happened, for maybe four months.”
The victims then wrote to Pope Francis.
McGarrigle alleged that “the next day, the bishop for the diocese, Alphonsus Cullinan, issued a statement on behalf of the diocese that Monsignor Shine was going to resign from that role” at Holycross.
‘Gossip’ among gardaí
The inquiry also heard claims that Clancy’s report of abuse by Kenneally became the subject of “gossip” among gardaí, with a relative of Clancy contacting him to inform him he had heard about the abuse.
This was alleged to have taken place around “four weeks” after Clancy made his initial complaint to gardaí in November 2012, according to McGarrigle.
She added that Clancy found that “gardaí were still taking ownership of this story” and that “when he finally found the strength to speak up, it was on their timeline”.
Meeting
The inquiry was told of a meeting between McGarrigle and Waterford Fianna Fáil TD Mary Butler during her investigating the case.
Butler became a TD in 2016 and is now a Minister of State for Mental Health and Older People.
Brendan Kenneally served as a TD in two stints for 17 years until 2011 and is a cousin of Bill Kenneally.
McGarrigle said she wanted to offer Butler a chance to “distance” herself from Brendan Kenneally following public criticism of Butler’s links to the former deputy, who had acted as her director of elections.
“There was never a suggestion that she knew about the abuse,” McGarrigle said.
McGarrigle said Butler defended Brendan Kenneally during their interview, saying that the former TD “couldn’t be connected” to the scandal.
“[Butler] said the crimes had essentially been dealt with,” McGarrigle said.
She added that Butler described her dealings with Brendan Kenneally as a “professional political relationship”, as she rented an office in Waterford city for her constituency work.
But victims were considering holding a picket outside Butler’s constituency office in protest against her paying “taxpayers money” to Brendan Kenneally for use of the office. This was due to Brendan Kenneally confirming he knew about his cousin Bill Kenneally’s abuse in 2002 but had not informed the authorities.
Butler later left the office, the inquiry heard.
Commission’s work
The commission was formed following a campaign by survivors into the handling of complaints of sexual abuse against the former basketball coach Bill Kenneally.
It has heard descriptions of the Kenneally family as a “powerhouse” in the region due to their political and business connections, with a number of Bill Kenneally’s relatives holding roles in national and local politics for Fianna Fáil.
Last May, Kenneally 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.
This week has marked the first time that the commission is able to hold hearings in public as there are no longer any ongoing criminal cases against Kenneally.
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