Gardaí yet to comment on ‘dereliction of duty’ findings in Kenneally report

An Garda Síochána has yet to comment on the specifics of a report which last week found a “clear and serious dereliction of duty” over the case of paedophile Bill Kenneally.

Kenneally, in his early 70s and formerly of Summerville Avenue, Waterford city, is serving a prison term after pleading guilty to 10 sample counts of indecently assaulting 10 boys at various locations in Waterford in the 1980s.

He gave evidence to the a Commission of Investigation, chaired by retired judge Michael White, and said he told two senior gardaí in the boardroom of a Garda station on December 30 1987 “what I was doing”.

The report compiled by Mr White was brought to Cabinet by Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan last Tuesday.

It said that gardaí had enough evidence to arrest Kenneally on suspicion of false imprisonment and indecent assault by the time this interview took place, and to search his house and car.

At the time, he was in possession of Polaroid images of naked boys in his home and car, the report said.

At the meeting on December 30 1987, Kenneally was not cautioned, proper notes were not taken, the investigation was not properly established and no file was created.

One of the officers also had a conflict of interest as he was “a close friend” of Kenneally’s uncle Monsignor John Shine, and should have recused himself from the investigation.

“The investigation started to go badly wrong from here to the conclusion. It was unprofessional, rushed and inappropriate,” the inquiry report stated.

It said the failure by two senior officers “to conduct a proper investigation into the activities of Bill Kenneally was a clear and serious dereliction of duty even by 1987 standards”.

On the day the report was published, An Garda Síochána said its thoughts were with the “victims of this terrible abuse” and that it had since “invested significantly in the investigation of domestic and sexual abuse”.

However, it said it would “need time to review” the report “before commenting on it”.

One week later, An Garda Síochána said it had no further comment “at this time”.

Asked earlier for a timeline on a comment or whether the review was a formal process, a spokesperson said: “No additional information is available at this time.”

Speaking ahead of a meeting with Mr O’Callaghan on Tuesday, survivor Colin Power said “it didn’t surprise” him that gardaí have not commented on the report.

“We were expected to articulate our views on it and digest it in less than 24 hours as individuals,” he said.

“The gardaí have a fairly substantial legal team that we saw throughout the years in the inquiry, so it’s kind of one rule for the state and one rule for victims.”

He said he hoped the Justice Minister would guarantee a state apology to victims “in a timely manner, not something that’s going to drag out for months”.

Victims will also not be happy until Mr White’s recommendations to the Law Reform Commission are met, Mr Power said.

“We haven’t done this to see this report just lie idle and not be acted upon, it has to be acted upon in our view now,” he said.

“We will fight to get that, and do whatever we have to do to get that done.”