Former TD allowed paedophile cousin to canvass as he 'didn't realise' extent of abuse

It has been suggested some victims were very upset to see Bill Kenneally come to their door when canvassing, having been abused by him previously

Willie O'Dea and Brendan Kenneally at the Fianna Fáil Ard Fheis in 1997. Mr Kenneally has said we did not become aware of the abuse perpetrated by his cousin Bill until 2001. Picture: Billy Higgins

A former Fianna Fáil TD has said that after he learned his cousin Bill Kenneally had been abusing boys, Kenneally still canvassed for him in the run up to an election because he “didn’t realise at that point the extent” of the prolific paedophile’s abuse.

Brendan Kenneally, appearing for a second and final day at a commission of investigation today, rejected claims that he had an “apathy” towards the offending of his cousin, and said that he wasn’t “keeping it quiet” by not reporting the abuse to gardaí or other authorities when he learned about it in 2001.

“It certainly wasn’t my intention,” he told Ecrus Stewart SC, for the commission. “You might see it that way. It was never my intention to do that.” 

The commission, chaired by High Court judge Michael White, is investigating the actions or inactions of State agencies in Waterford at the time the abuse perpetrated by Bill Kenneally took place. This also includes the responses of gardaí, politicians, clergy members, health board officials, and others.

Survivors of abuse have alleged there was collusion among agencies which prevented him from being apprehended at a much earlier point.

Last month, the former Waterford TD told the commission he had no knowledge of the abuse being committed by his cousin until he was told in 2001.

In August of that year, a constituent came to visit Brendan Kenneally and told him that her partner and his brother had been abused by his cousin Bill. He said he was given clear instructions not to report it to gardaí.

However, he spoke to his father about what he had been told, who told him in turn to speak to his uncle Monsignor John Shine. Both men indicated they were aware of the abuse.

Brendan Kenneally said he wanted to make sure that no abuse happened again, and resolved to “keep an eye” on his activities in basketball where he believed the abuse had taken place. He also arranged for Bill Kenneally to see a psychiatrist who was known to him.

He has said he felt he “didn’t have the authority” to go to the gardaí because he’d been urged not to by the person who reported the abuse to him.

Despite being told of the abuse, Bill Kenneally still canvassed on behalf of his cousin heading into the general election the following year. It has been suggested some victims were very upset to see him come to their door when canvassing, having been abused by him previously.

Brendan Kenneally said he was only aware of the abuse happening in basketball circles and didn’t believe it was dangerous to have Bill knocking on doors for him. He also said Bill Kenneally would never have been on his own during these canvasses.

Commission chairman Mr White put it to Brendan Kenneally that he would have been well aware of scandals in previous years regarding the disclosure of child sex abuse in Ireland. And he would have been aware of the Protections for Persons Reporting Child Abuse Act 1998, which allowed people to report abuse in confidence without any implications for their own liability.

Brendan Kenneally did not report the abuse in such a manner after learning of it, but wanted to monitor his behaviour.

I thought this was an appropriate action to take. I thought all his activities were confined around basketball. I wasn’t aware then it went far, far wider.

Mr Stewart put it to Brendan Kenneally that the person who reported the abuse to him sent him a detailed letter and mentions the people who were aware of the abuse stretching back to 1987, including the gardaí and Monsignor Shine.

“She wrote ‘they had an obligation to do something... I find it hard to sleep at night, I wonder if you’d ask them how they can knowing they did so little’,” Mr Stewart said, suggesting that granted Brendan Kenneally a “clear authority” to pursue the matter further.

“I didn’t see it that way at the time,” he said.

On one particular occasion, a victim of Bill Kenneally’s alleges he was viciously assaulted while on a trip with members of the basketball club to Cork in 1981. The man, who was 15 at the time, further alleges that Brendan Kenneally was on that trip and met him the following morning.

He said that Brendan Kenneally had been “laughing and smirking” over the sleeping arrangement from the night before and that Brendan made a comment to him saying “did you have fun last night?”.

In his evidence at the commission, Brendan Kenneally said that the man “has to be wrong” and that juveniles would not have gone on such trips.  He also said there would not be an “allocation as such” as to where people slept. 

 I’ve no recollection of him ever being with us. I can’t understand why he would’ve been.

Ray Motherway BL, representing two victims, put it to Brendan Kenneally that he may not have been aware of the abuse but he had agreed with the descriptions of Bill as a “loner” and an “oddball”.

“In view of that, in 1981, would you have had any reservation pairing him in a room with a 15-year-old boy,” he asked. Brendan Kenneally said he would not have had, but that he was not aware of the abuse until 2001.

He said that his cousin Bill never abused him or said anything sexually inappropriate in his presence. He also rejected assertions from Barra McGrory SC that his father and his uncle Monsignor Shine went to “great lengths” to hide the fact that Bill Kenneally was a child abuser.

“You did everything you could in your power to keep it a secret,” Mr McGrory said, to which Brendan Kenneally replied, “absolutely not”.

“Including going to a friendly psychiatrist,” the barrister added, and Brendan Kenneally said: “That was nothing to do with keeping it quiet.” 

Brendan Kenneally said he had not spoken to his cousin for around 15 years, but that Bill Kenneally had written to him some years ago from prison after he “made the mistake” of asking how Bill was when he met Bill’s sister at a family funeral. He said he had not read the letter, adding: 

If you don’t mind me saying, I don’t want to ever have contact with him again.

Mr Stewart closed off his questioning of Brendan Kenneally by asking how Bill Kenneally had hidden in plain sight in Waterford all these years. The former TD said he did not know.

He was then asked if he felt his “non-action” contributed to it. Brendan Kenneally replied: “I did what I thought was appropriate to make sure no boys were abused from then on.” 

Bill Kenneally was first jailed in 2016. He was convicted of abuse on over a dozen boys on dates ranging from the late 1970s to the late 1980s.

Commission chairman Mr White said that he intends for Bill Kenneally to be the final witness to give evidence, but more work needs to be done before this can happen.