Kenneally report: 'Clear dereliction' of duty by gardaí
A Commission of Investigation set up to examine the response to one of the most serious cases of paedophilia ever uncovered in Ireland has found there was a clear and serious dereliction of duty by senior gardaí, even by the standards of the time.
It found that while there was no evidence of widespread collusion by State authorities in preventing the prosecution of paedophile Bill Kenneally, who was connected to a powerful political dynasty in Waterford, the failure to investigate the matter properly in 1987 and 1988 had devastating consequences for his victims.
The commission also criticised the failure of Kenneally's cousin, former Fianna Fáil TD Brendan Kenneally, to contact child protection agencies after he was made aware of the abuse in 2001.
It recommended that the Law Reform Commission should urgently consider the absence of a criminal offence of "misconduct in public office" in this country.
Live updates as Kenneally Report published
The South East Commission of Investigation was set up to examine issues, including the response of An Garda Síochána, politicians, health authorities, the Catholic clergy and sporting bodies, to allegations of serious child sexual abuse made against basketball coach Bill Kenneally.
Kenneally is serving 19 years in prison for the abuse of 15 young boys in Waterford between 1979 and 1990. Gardaí believe at least 14 other boys were abused by him.
Kenneally admitted sexually abusing teenage boys when he was spoken to by senior gardaí in 1987 and claimed he gave them the names of seven boys. However, he was not arrested or prosecuted, and he continued to abuse children. He had no further contact from gardaí until 2012 when a complaint was made by one of his victims, Jason Clancy, and a full investigation finally began.
The inquiry noted that many people were aware of Bill Kenneally's crimes
The chair of the Commission of Investigation, retired Central Criminal Court judge, Michael White, said Kenneally’s cruel and exploitative crimes had a lifelong impact on the victims and his family.
He groomed children using trust, affection and fear, threatening them, plying them with alcohol and offering them money. He restrained them, tortured and abused them and photographed many of them with a Polaroid camera, using the photographs as "effective blackmail" to preserve the boys' silence.
The judge said in late 1987, many people, including those in responsible positions, were aware Bill Kenneally sexually abused children but "nothing appropriate was done" until Jason Clancy made the first formal complaint in December 2012.
Judge White said that a complaint made by a teenage boy in June 1985, was a missed opportunity to investigate Kenneally.
The 14-year-old boy walked into a garda station near his home and told a male garda that he had been sexually abused by Bill Kenneally. He said the garda did not speak to him in private and told him he would need to have an adult present. No steps were taken by the garda to contact the boy's parents or offer him a lift home. The judge said this complaint should have been properly investigated.
A complaint was made to gardaí in late 1987 by the father of one of Kenneally’s victims. But the parents of the child did not want to make a formal criminal complaint and did not want the boy to have to give a statement.
On 30 December that year, Acting Chief Superintendent Sean Cashman interviewed Bill Kenneally along with another senior officer, PJ Hayes. Kenneally was referred for psychiatric counselling. There was no further investigation and the commission found that Kenneally changed his behaviour but did not stop his sexual abuse.
In his report, Judge White said he had to examine the quality of the garda investigation by the standards of the time.
He found that from November 1987 to late December 1987, Chief Superintendent Cashman had acted appropriately. However, after speaking to the father of the victim on St Stephen’s Day 1987, the judge said he and Acting Superintendent Hayes, could have been in no doubt that a 14-year-old boy had been sexually assaulted, that restraint had been used, that there was a probability another boy had been sexually assaulted and a possibility of a third victim.
Sean Cashman during an interview with RTÉ's Prime Time in 2016
The judge said legislation existed to allow Bill Kenneally to have been arrested even without a statement of complaint from a victim. He said if Kenneally had been arrested at that stage, the Polaroid photographs of naked boys would have been discovered, and other victims could have been identified.
The judge said that after 26 December 1987, the garda investigation started to go badly wrong and was "unprofessional, rushed and inappropriate".
Judge White said acting Superintendent PJ Hayes should have excused himself from the investigation as it should have been obvious to him that he had a conflict of interest. Mr Hayes was a close friend of Monsignor John Shine, Bill Kenneally's uncle and also knew Bill Kenneally's other uncle, Billy, a former TD, as well as Kenneally's father, Paddy.
The judge said after gardaí spoke to the victim's father, they made the "unusual decision" to contact Billy Kenneally, the former TD. He said there was no need to do this and no thought was given to the implications of doing this, as it risked compromising the investigation before it started.
Judge White said that even if a criminal prosecution had not been possible, because of the lack of formal statements of complaint, a proper investigation would have revealed the extent of Bill Kenneally's offending and the risk he presented to children. Appropriate child protection measures could have been put in place.
The judge said child protection and criminal law legislation was hopelessly out of date in the mid 1980s and coordination between State agencies was sorely lacking. He said the Waterford division of An Garda Síochána at the time had no experience and no idea how to prevent or prosecute someone like Bill Kenneally.
They underestimated the nature of Kenneally's compulsion to abuse teenage boys and the danger to any boys coming within his influence.
After Bill Kenneally left Waterford Garda Station on 30 December 1987, the judge said he continued to abuse boys, including a 12-year-old who was the son of a good friend.
The judge said the horrific abuse suffered by this boy from 1987 to 1993 demonstrated the "naivety and dereliction of duty" in referring Kenneally to a psychiatrist and placing reliance on the psychiatrist's opinion.
The judge said he did not underestimate the challenge gardaí faced in 1987. But he said the failure of acting Chief Superintendent Cashman and acting Superintendent Hayes to conduct a proper investigation into Bill Kenneally's activities was a clear and serious dereliction of duty, even by 1987 standards.
The judge said that after some of Kenneally's victims made complaints as adults, they were upset by then retired Chief Superintendent Cashman’s approach to them. He said Mr Cashman judged the victims as if they had some degree of responsibility. And the judge said Mr Cashman's compliments of retired TD and senator, Billy Kenneally - who did nothing - were tone deaf.
Judge White also examined the response of the then South Eastern Health Board to allegations about Kenneally. He details a report prepared by a paediatrician in 1989 in relation to two young boys, one of whom was assaulted by Kenneally in 1987 and another who was groomed by him.
This report detailed threats of violence and the fact that other boys had been approached, as well as a reference to taking photographs. The report was sent to the Director of Community Care, Dr Martin O’Boyle, and Patrick Conaty, Senior Social Worker in the Health Board in March 1989, although they stated they did not receive it.
The judge said the paediatrician, Dr Geraldine Nolan, should have followed through on this report and contacted Dr O’Boyle and Mr Conaty directly.
Bill Kenneally's compulsion to abuse teenage boys was underestimated, the inquiry found
He said the failure of the Health Board to act was a lost opportunity to stop Bill Kenneally and produce accountability much earlier than 2012.
The commission also looked specifically at the actions of Bill Kenneally’s uncles - former TD Billy Kenneally and Monsignor John Shine - and examined whether or not there was interference by them with An Garda Síochána to prevent Bill Kenneally’s prosecution.
It also examined whether Bill Kenneally's cousin, former Fianna Fáil TD and senator, Brendan Kenneally knew about the abuse and turned a blind eye to it.
The judge found that Billy Kenneally Senior as well as Monsignor Shine, who are both deceased, knew in late 1987 and early 1988 that Bill Kenneally had sexually abused at least one child and possibly another. However, he found there was no evidence available to him that Billy Kenneally or Monsignor Shine interfered in the garda investigation.
The judge found there was no direct evidence of Brendan Kenneally knowing about the sexual abuse prior to 2001. And he said he could not definitively establish knowledge by Brendan Kenneally of the abuse prior to 2001.
Brendan Kenneally said he was informed of the allegations for the first time in August 2001, when a constituent whose husband had been abused by Bill Kenneally made an appointment to see him and told him her partner and another boy had been sexually abused.
Judge White said Brendan Kenneally's subsequent actions fell substantially below the standards he would expect from a TD of his experience. He said Brendan Kenneally had an obvious option - to report the matter to the Child Protection Services of the South Eastern Health Board and ask it to carry out a risk assessment.
The judge said Brendan Kenneally should also have spoken to his cousin and advised him to resign from the Waterford Vikings basketball club. And he said he should never have allowed him to continue to canvas and act as a tallyman for him or for Fianna Fáil.
He said the one constant in the actions of Billy Kenneally Snr, Monsignor John Shine and Brendan Kenneally, was a failure to bring the matter into the public domain by reporting the matter to the agencies responsible for child protection.
In his concluding remarks, Judge White said Irish society now knew "from bitter experience" that sexual exploitation of children could come from all sources. He said society owed it to children to "maintain vigilance in a way which allows normal adolescent exploration of their sexuality."
The judge said he had found that no offence of serious dereliction of duty by a public official, falling short of deliberate perversion of the course of justice existed in this country. He recommended that the Law Reform Commission should urgently consider the absence of a criminal offence of "misconduct in public office".
Judge White said he hoped his report had brought some peace of mind to Bill Kenneally’s victims and he saluted their courage and resilience.
