Kenneally probe to hear submissions in private at final meeting

The hearings next week will see submissions made by the victims, An Garda Síochána, the HSE and Basketball Ireland

Bill Kenneally is currently serving a 19-year sentence for the indecent assault of 15 boys in Waterford between 1979 and 1990. File photo: Sasko Lazarov/© RollingNews.ie

The commission of investigation into the State’s response to allegations of child abuse against convicted paedophile Bill Kenneally is to meet for the final time next week behind closed doors.

The commission has confirmed that two final days of submissions from the various stakeholders to the commission will take place on January 23 and 24.

“The sitting is specifically to take submissions from the interested parties and is being held strictly in private,” a spokesperson for the commission said.

It is unclear why the final hearings are to be held in private. While some previous testimony had been held in private, this was predominantly the case while criminal prosecutions against Kenneally were still live.

During Kenneally’s own public testimony before the commission last March, the commission’s chair, former High Court judge Michael White, moved to bring the hearing into private session out of respect for Kenneally’s victims, only for the media present to be recalled to the chamber at the request of the victims themselves.

Kenneally, a 74-year-old former basketball coach, is currently serving a 19-year sentence for the indecent assault of 15 boys in Waterford between 1979 and 1990.

The commission of investigation first met in November 2019 under Justice Barry Hickson. He was replaced by Justice White in 2021, following the former’s retirement.

The hearings next week will see submissions made by parties with an interest in the case — including the victims, An Garda Síochána, and the HSE — in response to the final written submissions made by all concerned following Kenneally’s testimony last year.

At the time of Kenneally’s two-day appearance before the commission, counsel for An Garda Síochána had reserved the force’s position in terms of whether or not it would choose to cross-examine the convicted criminal, a right that was finally waived last September.

Final report

The commission of investigation first began public hearings in September 2023 after Kenneally’s various criminal proceedings had concluded.

Once final oral submissions are delivered, the chair will retire to consider his findings before producing a final public report. Justice White also has the power to make recommendations on foot of those findings.

Parties close to the process believe a final report will likely be delivered by next summer at the latest, and possibly considerably sooner, given the fact that the chair had pushed for all parties to get their final submissions in quickly once it became clear that Kenneally would not take the stand for a third time.

At the paedophile’s two days of testimony last March, he asserted he had heard nothing more from An Garda Síochána for 25 years after an interview by appointment with two gardaí at a Waterford Garda station in December 1987.

Kenneally’s house was finally searched in December 2012 after a number of victims came forward, before he himself was arrested for the first time the following May.

Jan 15: This article was updated to remove a reference to proposed written submissions from Bill Kenneally and the Diocese of Lismore.