Incompetence and indifference - The Munster Express

Incompetence and indifference The Munster Express

The offending of Bill Kenneally has been described as some of the worst cases of child abuse ever uncovered in Ireland.

The report conducted by the South East Commission of Investigation and published last Tuesday, 9 June 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.

There is evidence that Kenneally committed serious crimes against children from 1970 to 1993.

The commission found ‘a clear and serious dereliction of duty even by 1987 standards’, on behalf of senior Gardaí, particularly acting Chief Superintendent Cashman.

One of the main purposes of the 417 page report was to identify who knew about Kenneally’s offending, and who failed to act.

Kenneally was sentenced to 14 years and 2 months in prison in 2016 for sexually abusing ten boys between 1984 and 1987. He is now aged 75 and received an additional four-and-a-half-year prison sentence in May 2023 for the abuse of five boys between December 1979 and March 1990.

The commission found that Kenneally’s abuse was particularly intense during the period from 1978 to 1987. Although the abuse continued after this time, the grooming aspect became less public.

Between 1978 and 1987 the commission notes that Kenneally’s activity would have been observable in ways like: He behaved inappropriately in the changing rooms and showers while coaching, he socialised regularly with young boys, he used to visit areas where youths hung around, he kept alcohol in the boot of his car to supply youths, many children and young people were wary of Mr Kenneally’s behaviour, he regularly invited boys to his own home when his parents were away.

According to the report, Kenneally had an ‘intense’ attraction to pubescent boys. The report notes that “Those who sexually abuse children are by their nature and obsessions secretive and cunning.” It explains that while the children around Kenneally were wary of him, many of the adults were not, which is not an unusual pattern in situations of child abuse.

The report found that Superintendent PJ Hayes, who was involved in handling the initial complaint was a close friend of Kenneally’s uncle, Monsignor Michael Shine.

The report states that Hayes should never have been involved in investigating Kenneally due to a clear conflict of interest.

In a particularly heartbreaking incident, a survivor named as A8 walked from his home to Waterford Garda station, in 1985 when he was 14 years old. There he told the male Garda at the counter that he had been abused by Bill Kenneally the previous day.

After asking the boys age, the Garda replied that he would need a parent present if he wanted to make a statement. The Garda appears to have made no attempt to contact his boy’s parents or speak to him in a private room. The boy left the Garda station and made no further attempt to inform anyone.

“I just said okay, turned around and would have walked out. I never returned to the station. I knew I couldn’t tell anybody else."

Another survivor reported that he was having a drink in a pub after training when an off-duty Guard called him over and said “Your man Kenneally, mind yourself with him. He said there is a file as long as your arm on him in the barracks”.

The Garda subsequently told the commission that he couldn’t have warned anyone because he was unaware of any complaint against Kenneally. He confirmed that he warned them about taking alcohol from Kenneally, and that he knew ‘young lads’ didn’t want him in the dressing room.

The commission was satisfied that some conversation took place in which this survivor was advised to keep away from Kenneally on the night in question.

Some of the most damning findings in the report related to Sean Cashman, acting Chief Superintendent of Waterford Garda Station, who was the decision maker on the original Kenneally report.

The commission notes that Cashman was spread thin across multiple cases and had an exemplary service record up until this point.

By 1987 Cashman knew that Kenneally had restrained and abused a teenage boy.

Cashman made no effort to contact the Health Board, nor did he consult with any other Garda of equal of superior rank for advice. Cashman made the ‘unusual decision’ to contact Billy Kenneally, uncle of Bill and father of Brendan, to arrange an interview with Bill Kenneally.

As the report explains, contacting the uncle of the suspect risked the investigation before it began, as it could allow the suspect to destroy evidence.

The report states that Cashman decided to deal with Kenneally by giving him a warning and refer him to a psychologist.

There were many issues with Cashman’s course of action, including: no file was created on Kenneally, no crime was recorded, his property was not searched where “it is definite that polaroid images would have been found”, proper notes were not taken, he was ‘naïve at the very least’ about Billy Kenneally Snr’s and Monsignor Shine’s motives, and he seriously misjudged Kenneally’s chance of reoffending.

Kenneally attended the Garda Station in Waterford in December 1987. There he had an informal conversation with Cashman and Hayes. Kenneally was described as “incoherent and was sort of throwing himself at the mercy of An Garda Síochána.”

In this interview Kenneally admitted to the abuse and, through his emotional state, said he wanted medical help. Cashman estimates that Kenneally admitted to ten or twelve victims.

The Garda believed that Kenneally was not going to commit any more assaults, and would have told them anything. Kenneally received psychiatric treatment from a doctor in Waterford, who informed the Gardaí that he was doing well.

Kenneally would go on and commit some of his worst abuse after this point. It would be 25 years before the Gardaí investigated Kenneally again.

“There is no doubt Bill Kenneally received objectively favourable treatment in 1987/1988.”

Monsignor Shine was Bill Kenneally’s uncle, the brother of Kenneally’s mother. Any involvement Monsignor Shine had in the Kenneally abuse allegations were from a personal capacity, and not on behalf of the Diocese.

The commission concluded that Monsignor Shine knew about Kenneally abusing at least one child in late 1987.

In a 2013 statement to Gardaí Monsignor Shine claimed not to have any knowledge any abuse beyond the first report around 1988.

The commission found that this statement was untrue. Monsignor Shine had been informed of further abuse 12 years earlier, in 2001. In an interview with Damien Tiernan in 2016, Monsignor Shine said he wanted Bill Kenneally remembered as a good family man who took extra care of his mother.

“Billy Kenneally, and Monsignor Shine were prominent public figures in Waterford. A scandal involving their nephew being made public was not an attractive prospect to them.”

The report explains that there is a phenomenon in Irish political life that call be called the ‘political dynasty’, which is when the child and grandchild of a prominent politician also succeeds in politics. The Kenneally’s were a significant political dynasty within Fianna Fáil.

William Kenneally was elected as a TD in 1952, and re-elected in 1954 and 1957. In the 1954 election he topped the poll with 7,777 votes, and the number 7 was adopted by the Kenneally’s as their lucky number. 7 was always used on the Kenneally busses and when Bill Kenneally paid his victims money, he liked to give them amounts of money ending in 7. William Kenneally had been mayor before he died suddenly in 1964.

Billy Kenneally Snr was elected as a TD in 1965, 1969, 1973, 1977, and 1981. He was elected a senator after he lost his seat in 1982. He continued as a Waterford City Councillor and was elected mayor in 1984 and 1976.

His son Brendan Kenneally was elected as a Councillor in 1985. He became mayor in 1988. He was elected as a TD in 1989, 1992, and 1997. He was a senator from 2002 to 2007. He was re-elected to the Dail in 2007 and lost his seat in 2011.

Bill Kenneally’s father Paddy ran a prominent bus company in Waterford along with his brother Billy Keanneally Snr. The family also operated multiple pubs around Waterford City.

Bill Kenneally claimed that he was offered a councillor seat by Brendan Kenneally in 1992, which would have included Bill Kenneally becoming mayor of Waterford. According to Bill Kenneally he turned this offer down.

One of the survivors claimed that Brendan Kenneally was involved in deciding the sleeping arrangements at a basketball tournament in 1981, when the survivor was forced to stay with Bill Kenneally.

This man states that Brendan Kenneally was amused by the prospect of him having to spend the night with Bill Kenneally and even asked him the next morning if he had ‘fun’. From this point the survivor believed that Brendan Kenneally was fully aware of the abuse.

In reply to this accusation, Brendan Kenneally said he had no recollection of any such trip.

The commission notes that there is no direct evidence that Brendan Kenneally knew about the abuse prior to 2001 when a mother of one of the survivors attended the constituency office to make a report.

After this confirmed report the family again referred Bill Kenneally to a psychiatrist, despite now knowing that his offending had continued after the first referral in the late 80s.

10 years after this, when Brendan Kenneally knew Bill Kenneally was an ‘admitted paedophile’ he allowed Bill Kenneally to go door-to-door canvassing for him and act as a tallyman at election counts up to 2011.

The commission report states it is ‘difficult to believe’ that Brendan Kenneally was not told by his father and uncle that Bill Kenneally’s was referred to a psychiatrist in 1987/88 for abusing children, but that is the evidence that Brendan Kenneally provided.

“…Another referral of Bill Kenneally to a psychiatrist in 2001 [involving Brendan Kenneally] was nonsense”

According to the report, Monsignor Shine should have told Brendan Kenneally to report the information provided by the mother to the authorities. Brendan Kenneally should also have told Bill Kenneally to resign from his involvement in Waterford Basketball club and should never have allowed him to be involved in Fianna Fáil elections.

“Despite the strong denial of Brendan Kenneally in evidence, the one constant in the actions of all three, Billy Kenneally Snr, Monsignor Shine and Brendan Kenneally was a failure to bring the matter into the public domain at least to the extent of reporting the matter to the statutory agencies responsible for child protection.”

Brother Columba Gallagher was the principal of De la Salle college. According to the report Brother Columba was in possession of significant information about Kenneally’s offending, but as far as the commission could discern, he kept the information to himself.

At least 12 boys who attended De la Salle alleged abuse by Kenneally.

One survivor was approached by Br Columba in1987 after the principal had received information from other people and had already spoken to the Guards. The survivor, identified as A9 told Br Columba that he was being abused. The Brother then asked A9 to obtain some evidence. A short time later A9 stole an indecent polaroid taken by Kenneally and brought it to Brother Columba.

A9 was approached by the Brother again in1988, and A9 told the Brother the abuse had not stopped. Br Columba told A9 that Kenneally would be gone at the end of the basketball season. Eventually, at 17 the abuse stopped when A9 slapped Kenneally in the face.

The report explains that two survivors from Waterpark college were interviewed by Dr Geraldine Nolan, Consultant Paediatrician and Senior Area Medical Officer in Waterford from 1987 to early 1991. These interviews began in 1987, the first year Kenneally was being confronted about his behaviour.

According to a commission, a report prepared by Dr Nolan had details of the Kenneally falsely imprisoning the young boys, there was a suggestion he was giving them money, there was evidence of threats, ongoing suspicious social interactions between teenagers and Kenneally, and claims from the survivors that Kenneally was particularly interested in the younger boys.

This knowledge was not acted on. Although Dr Nolan is adamant a report on Kenneally was sent from her office in Ardkeen, to the office of the South Eastern Health Board in Waterford City, senior members in the Health Board claimed not to have known about the file.

Eventually the commission found the report from 1989, clinical notes of Dr Nolan, questionnaires completed by the teenagers, and a letter written by one of the survivors on South Eastern Health Board notepaper.

This file was not recovered until 2017 when Dr Elizibeth Walsh was reviewing notes for another matter and stumbled across the name Bill Kenneally.

“The Commission was not able to ascertain why Dr O’Boyle and Mr Conaty were not made aware of the report.”

Although Dr Nolan did recommend monitoring, the commission found she should have followed through on the report and contacted Dr Boyle and Mr Conaty directly.

The Commission did accept that Dr Nolan was working in difficult circumstances as she worked alone and only part time in this area. Dr Nolan went on to do “pioneering work” in the area of child protection.

“The failure of the South Eastern Health Board to act on child protection, was a lost opportunity to stop Bill Kenneally’s continuing illegal activity and to produce accountability much earlier than 2012/2013.”

Finally, principal of Waterpark NS, Maurice O’Connor was singled out for praise by the report, which stated he acted in an ‘exemplary’ manner.

When O’Connor discovered that one of his students was with Kenneally when he should have been in class, O’Connor contacted the parents to notify them of Kenneally’s suspicious behaviour.

Despite the parents insisting that the incident not to be reported elsewhere, O’Conner went against their wishes to contact Brother Columba in De la Salle to warn him that his basketball coach, Bill Kenneally, was acting in a suspiciously with some of the students.

Br Columba guaranteed that Kenneally would be dismissed that day. O’Connor was surprised not to hear back from Br Columba, and discovered 6 months later that Kennealy was still at the school.

The report concludes that there was no co-ordinated coverup to protect Bill Kenneally, but rather a mixture of those who assumed someone else would take the ultimate responsibility, and those whose main concern was that the issue be forgotten, rather than the harm being caused to children.

That parents were afraid to make an official complaint involving their children should not be taken as them failing, but shows that these parents, who were concerned enough to contact the Gardaí, did not trust the system enough to commit their teenage sons to what would be a gruelling legal process.

They informed who they believed needed to know and tried to help their sons move on with their lives.

When Kenneally’s home was finally searched in 2013 he admitted to assaulting 20 boys.

The Kenneally report documents a shameful era in Waterford’s history as evil was facilitated by those with the power and responsibility to stop it. After waiting 8 years for the report to be completed, the survivors are now calling for a state apology, with some saying that an apology should also from the Fianna Fáil party.

Reports suggest that Bill Kenneally is ill and will likely die in prison.

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