Vindicated - The Munster Express

Vindicated The Munster Express

The publication of the report into Bill Kenneally’s crimes has provoked an abundance of opinion from all levels of society, but none of these matter as much as the perspective of the survivors themselves, who waited 8 years for the report, and a lifetime to see Bill Kenneally and his enablers brought to justice.

The report, conducted by the South East Commission of Investigation examines how Bill Kenneally, a prominent basketball coach sexually abused boys over multiple decades and how various institutions responded (or failed to respond) and whether opportunities to stop him were missed.

The Munster Express spoke to Kevin Keating, a survivor of Bill Kenneally’s abuse, and one of 6 men who have waived their anonymity to stand tall and push for the justice they deserve.

“The report is amazing for me. It’s full vindication. It feels like relief as well, that what we have been saying from the very start is actually what Judge White has found: there was a dereliction of duty. Even for the laws at the time there was a dereliction of duty,” said Kevin Keating.

“Not for us. Ever since the day that we stared this, when Jason [Clancy] went into the Garda Station in 2012, everything was a battle, so everything was a fight uphill. So, waiting on this was stressful. However, the one thing that Judge White did do, and did consistently show, was his thoroughness.

“It didn’t matter who was on the stand when he was doing the investigation he showed respect and empathy for everyone that was up there. His summary, and the 400-plus pages, there wasn’t a stone left unturned.

“I knew he was going to find the truth, whatever that truth was going to be. He saw exactly what we saw.”

You said everything was a battle, who was that battle against?

“It was a battle even from the start when we got Kenneally into the court, that was a tough few days of deliberation. We were told from the start that the man could get a slap on the wrist and a maximum of two years. That was hard. It was hard to listen to that.

“When Judge O’Kelly ruled for 14 years two months, that was brilliant because it wasn’t the normal slap on the wrist or a suspended sentence.

“Jason [Clancy] says it perfectly, that was only the semi-final. The next part was that we all knew as we stood there that there was something seriously wrong back in the day.

“Acting Superintendent Cashman gave evidence on Prime Time. In his words he knew he had the culprit, he knew it. In his words none of the victims wanted to help him, it was only Billy Kenneally.”

Here, Mr Keating is referring to an interview in which Former Chief Superintendent Cashman said that he got no help from the victims of the abuse and received the most help of all from Kenneally’s uncle, former Mayor, Billy Kenneally.

“How on God’s green earth is that acceptable?” asked Mr Keating. “He [Cashman] had the full control of the Garda Station in Waterford. He could have simply got his detective team to start looking at it.

“I don’t know of many people that if there was a serious crime brought against them, they’d ring their uncle and ask them to come down. If he just went to the two Garda on his team that played basketball with Kenneally he could have had them tell Kenneally come into the station.

“But he didn’t. He went down that route. There’s a ton of stuff that could have been done back in the day and we would not be having this conversation.”

In 1987 Kenneally attended the station and Cashman describes how he grovelled to the Gardaí before walking out. There was no file created, no crime recorded. Do you think Kenneally played the Gardaí at that time?

“He wasn’t even brought into the interrogation room he was brought into the board room,” said Mr. Keating.

“There was a conversation prior to him coming in and it was already pre-determined that he was going to a psychiatrist. That decision was already made. There was never going to be an investigation for him.

“If you go to someone with far less problems, an alcoholic, a drug addict, do you think a session with a psychiatrist is going to fix their issues? It’s absolutely ludicrous.

“It’s not easy to sit here and know in your heart that he could have done something,” he explained. “That man admitted to using handcuffs, which is false imprisonment. Judge White also stated that the house could have been searched due to false imprisonment, where they would have got all the evidence that he needed, the polaroids, the twine, all the other paraphernalia he would have got it.

“As more and more I’ve read the report, that sits worse and worse on me. I’ve had to relive that abuse over and over. That’s the stuff that really gets me annoyed and upset.”

Mr. Keating explained that Kenneally’s behaviour during his interview with the commission shows that he still believes he did nothing wrong.

“Kenneally has no remorse whatsoever. Even when he was doing his interview with the commission which was two days long, even then he was saying that it was all consensual because they were 15 at the time.

“Judge White caught that one beautifully and said it cannot be consensual if you started to groom them at 12, and the abuse didn’t start at 15.

“Jason [Clancy] said it since the start – Bill Kenneally is Ireland’s most prolific paedophile.”

“Oh listen, when Bill Kenneally left that board room that day, he believed he was untouchable. He always bragged about it and shoved it in your face that nobody would believe you. But he knew leaving that board room from the Garda station that day. He knew it.”

It’s unthinkable but he was proved right until 2016. Was it a case where you would run into him around town?

“That was the thing. He used to work in a firm by the GPO [in Waterford] and my dad’s shop used to be on the Quay. He used to walk past our shop to go to a newsagent that was down by the clocktower.

“He didn’t have to go past us but he’d pass us, knowing. He just made you feel like a little boy. He just had that character where everything was fear – fear-based, I’m invincible, I’m untouchable.

“This could have been stopped in 1985, when that first boy went in and was told to leave the station because he didn’t have his parents. But they definitely could have stopped it when the parents of another boy came in, in 1987, and instead they brought Kenneally into the board room and sent him to a psychiatrist.”

I don’t personally blame Micheál Martin and I don’t personally blame Minister O’Callaghan. But I will stand by these words: I will absolutely be the first person knocking on their door if they don’t deal with the findings of the report and implement the changes that are needed.

Judge White recommended that a person in a public office should be held accountable on a legal level. The recommendations are to make sure a public representative is accountable and can be prosecuted.

Mr Keating explained that he was one of the survivors which Bill Kennally canvassed in 2011, ten years after his cousin and then Fianna Fáil TD, Brendan Kenneally, had irrefutable knowledge that Bill Kenneally had abused children.

“I told him to get away from my front door and he went running back to the people that were with him. Brendan Kenneally had him canvassing for him, knowing that he had sexually abused boys.

“I think Barry [Murphy] said it many, many years ago that it was Waterford’s dirty little secret. Well, it’s not a secret anymore.”

Mr Keating finished the interview by thanking the public for their outpouring of support.

“It’s unbelievable and thank you all very much for the support because there were dark times for us all with the uphill battles that we had.

“You have your family and friends, but getting so many people who don’t know you to show support, it’s just been unbelievable. A massive thank you from us all, and thanks to the media for getting the word out there that there’s something wrong in Waterford.

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