Taoiseach: Bill Kenneally’s actions were reprehensible but report found no Fianna Fáil cover-up

Commission report examines failures in handling abuse allegations and raises questions about responses by State agencies

Micheál Martin says Kenneally report does not implicate Fianna Fáil as a party. Picture: PA

The actions of paedophile Bill Kenneally were "reprehensible", the Taoiseach has said, but he added that a report into his crimes did not "implicate" the Fianna Fáil party.

Kenneally, a 75-year-old former basketball coach and accountant, is currently serving a 19-year sentence for the indecent assault of 15 boys in Waterford between 1979 and 1990. However, the South East Commission of Investigation’s report notes that the number of victims is likely to be far higher.

The commission’s final report, which is due to be presented to Cabinet by justice minister Jim O’Callaghan on Tuesday, has examined how State agencies dealt with allegations made against Kenneally since 2018.

A central chapter examines how gardaí in Waterford handled allegations made in November 1987, when his behaviour was first brought to their attention by the father of one of the abused children.

Speaking at Government Buildings on Saturday, Micheál Martin was asked whether, if a State apology is offered, it would also be made on behalf of his party.

Kenneally, a member of a prominent Fianna Fáil family, had, for at least a decade by that point, routinely groomed young boys through his position as a basketball coach by providing them with alcohol and money before sexually assaulting them. The abuse often continued over extended periods.

"I think the actions of Bill Kenneally were reprehensible and horrific, and I would have called nearly a decade ago for a commission of investigation into the handling of that," Mr Martin said.

He said he had read the report and that “it’s very clear that the central conclusion of the Commission of Investigation is that there was a failure on behalf of An Garda Síochána at the time in 1987 to deal adequately and properly” with the allegations.

He added that Kenneally had presented himself at a Garda station and was “tantamount to admitting his culpability”.

The report describes how then chief superintendent Sean Cashman and then inspector PJ Hayes interviewed Kenneally on December 30, 1987, during which he freely admitted abusing seven boys.

It notes that “the investigation started to go badly wrong from here to the conclusion”.

The report also describes as “unusual” the decision by Mr Cashman to contact Kenneally’s uncle, former Fianna Fáil TD Billy Kenneally, before informally interviewing him.

“The report doesn't implicate the Fianna Fáil party at all as an organisation and, in fact, makes the point that the Fianna Fáil party was not advised, even locally or in any shape or form, by any individual. The two former public representatives involved did wrong in the manner in which they addressed the issue, no question about that,” Mr Martin said.

He said the Government is arranging Dáil time to “debate this comprehensively” and that, because the commission’s central conclusion is that “State agencies effectively failed the victims in terms of not dealing with this robustly and properly at the time”, the Government will consider issuing an apology.

Mr Martin said Mr O’Callaghan would be meeting victims and added that “what’s also clear from the report, and the report is clear, there’s no evidence whatsoever of any conspiracy or any attempt at a cover-up, and that’s the evidence. We must allow the report to speak for itself.”