Child abuser Bill Kenneally ‘heard nothing’ after confession to gardaí until 25 years later

Gráinne Ní Aodha, PA

Sex abuser Bill Kenneally has said he told gardaí in a 1987 meeting about his abuse of boys, but “heard nothing” from officers again on the matter until 25 years later.

The former Waterford basketball coach gave evidence at the Commission of Investigation examining the response of gardaí and others to allegations of sexual abuse made against him.

Kenneally, aged 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.

Kenneally appeared before the commission on Monday and gave details of a meeting he had with gardaí in the boardroom of a Garda station on December 30th, 1987.

He said he was at a basketball training session that day when his uncle, a local TD, told him he was being asked to come to the Garda station.

Kenneally was asked by a barrister representing the victims whether he wondered why he was going to a Garda station, and Kenneally said “No because I felt like it was out of control”.

Aged 37 at the time, he said he “told them what I was doing” at what he described as an “informal” meeting, at which it was “highly unlikely” that he had been cautioned.

He told the commission that the names of seven boys he had abused were mentioned during the meeting, though he couldn’t be sure of whether he or gardaí brought up certain names.

“I mentioned handcuffs and I mentioned touching genitalia,” he told the commission.

He said the gardaí asked if “there was any sodomy involved and I said there wasn’t”.

Asked whether they seemed to be relieved at that response, he said: “Yes, that was known as abuse in the 1980s.”

He said he was told not to have any contact with any of the boys again and to get psychiatric help.

A garda later stopped him on Waterford’s O’Connell Street, told him to get into the car and said to Kenneally “we’ve been told to keep an eye on you”, but didn’t say by who exactly.

He said that he visited a local psychiatrist and said he “got the impression he was expecting a call from me”.

He saw the doctor five or six times in January and February, and once in the summer when he felt “urges” return.

He said that between March 1st, 1988, and December 13th, 2012, “I heard nothing” from gardaí.

“On 13 December 2012, gardai came to the house and did a search. I was not arrested on that day, I gave a voluntary statement on which I admitted a number of things,” he said.

Asked if he had a sense that he was going to the Garda station to discuss a serious crime, Kenneally suggested that it would be viewed more seriously now than it was then.

“It wouldn’t have been regarded as one-quarter as serious then as it is nowadays. That’s fact,” he said.

“I know if it came up at that time, the sentence would have been possibly two years, the sentences would have been concurrent.”

Kenneally also appeared to defend his actions by saying one victim was over the age of consent, and defended the use of handcuffs by replying: “It’s become very popular in sexual activities since.”

He smiled and appeared in good humour during some of the testimony.

Kenneally’s grandfather, Willie Kenneally, became a Fianna Fáil TD for Waterford after winning a by-election in 1954 with 7,777 votes. Kenneally told the commission that he regarded the number seven as a lucky number and agreed that he had given boys money in multiples of seven.

Kenneally’s uncle Billy Kenneally and first cousin Brendan Kenneally were also TDs for Waterford.