THE FINAL REPORT of the Commission of Investigation examining the years of sexual abuse perpetrated by Bill Kenneally and how complaints about his crimes were handled by authorities has been completed, The Journal can reveal.

Victims learned today that chairman Michael White sent a copy of the final draft report to the Minister and Secretary General at the Department of Justice earlier this week.

This brings to a conclusion the eight-year public inquiry examining how State agencies and organisations handled reports of Keneally’s abuse.

Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan will now decide when to publish the report. 

Kenneally – a former sports coach from Laragh, Summerville Avenue, Waterford – was also a tallyman for Fianna Fáil, and had strong family links to the party. 

Now in his 70s, he was sentenced in 2016 to 14 years in prison for abusing ten boys from 1984 to 1987.

In May of 2023, Kenneally also received a four-and-a-half-year sentence for abusing five boys between December 1979 and March 1990.

Chaired by former high court judge Michael White, the Commission of Investigation examining how state agencies and organisations handled reports of his crimes started in 2018 and began hearing evidence in public in 2024. 

Formed after a campaign by his victims, the inquiry heard from victims, senior gardaí, the clergy, the former South Eastern Health Board, a number of retired Fianna Fáil politicians and party members, as well as Bill Kenneally himself.

The campaign for a State inquiry began in 2016 in the wake of his initial sentencing.

40 years of waiting for truth

Kevin Keating, a survivor of Kenneally’s abuse, told The Journal this evening that reaching this point is an “extremely important” moment.

For the victims “it’s been 40 years” of waiting for the truth, Keating said. He is calling for the report to be published as soon as possible.

“I just hope now that the Minister for Justice will promptly release it and give his opinion on it.”

Keating said he would be “over the moon” when the report is released. 

“This will be the milestone and the end of it.”

He said that Judge White had shown throughout the inquiry process “that he is a fair man, that he is a person of great integrity that will listen to every side of it, not just the victims, but every side of it and then make his ruling”.

Kevin Keating was one of ten men that Bill Kenneally was found guilty of sexually abusing in a court case at Waterford Circuit Court in 2016.

After he was sexually assaulted by Kenneally in 1986, he told a doctor, but no action was taken to stop Kenneally from abusing children.

Today, Kevin said that he hopes that the publication of the Commission of Investigation’s final report will impact all victims of abuse, particularly those still suffering in silence.

“Hopefully [the report] will give people the courage to come forward and to know that they are not alone.”

Associate professor of law at DCU, Dr James Gallen, said that the Minister for Justice should “avoid undue delay” in publishing the report.

“Survivors have waited a long time for official recognition of the truth of their experiences and have waited patiently for the inquiry process to be concluded.

“The Minister should be mindful to avoid undue delay in publishing the report. Before bringing proposals for a response to cabinet, the Minister should seek the input and views of victim-survivors in what should inform a suitable response to the inquiry that meets their justice needs and rights – an official apology, redress and other measures designed to guarantee such harms will not take place again in future are typically involved.”

Dr Gallen also said that lessons should be learned from how the publication of previous reports was handled by the State.

“It is essential that survivors are treated with more respect than in the context of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby institutions, whose report was leaked to the press prior to being provided to survivors.

“State officials should avoid the cheap and fleeting benefits of putting their spin on the report prior to its official publication, at a cost of significant damage of trust to survivors.

“The chair of the Commission should be invited to hold a press conference or other public event to speak to the contents of what will no doubt be a lengthy and complex report and set of findings.”

The Department of Justice said in a statement:

“The Commission submitted the report to the Minister this week and it will be prepared for publication, following consideration of appropriate legal advice.

“The Department will engage with the victims prior to publication.”