LAST UPDATE | 16 Jun

VICTIMS OF PAEDOPHILE Bill Kenneally have said the justice minister has committed to a full state apology, which they hope will be issued in the coming weeks.

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.

Last week, a report into the abuses of the paedophile found a “clear and serious dereliction of duty” on behalf of An Garda Síochána.

The report states that knowledge of his activities became known in Waterford to two senior garda officers, as well as a senior clergyman, in the late 1980s.

However, Kenneally was not brought to justice prior to a formal complaint by Jason Clancy in December 2012.

On Tuesday, Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan met with a number of Kenneally’s victims, a meeting they described as “very amicable”.

After the meeting, Clancy said he was “very, very confident and happy” in what the minister had said to them.

He said O’Callaghan had told them he is “going through the process” for a state apology.

“Getting a state apology, I think, for all of us is huge,” he said, “because it’s just an acknowledgement of what was done to us.”

Another survivor, Colin Power, said while they had not received a “firm commitment” on when they might receive the apology, the survivors told the minister, 40 years on from the abuse, they “want this done quickly”.

He said: “Our firm view is we would like it done before the Dáil recesses for summer, and although he didn’t give us a firm commitment for that, he knows our position on that now.”

Darragh Mackin, the victims’ solicitor, said Tuesday’s meeting represented “the light at the end of the tunnel” for them.

He said O’Callaghan apologised on Tuesday for “failings of the entire department” and said he “indicated” a “full, formal state apology” will be “forthcoming in the coming weeks”.

The minister also confirmed he would bring forward legislation to “fix the lacuna in the law for the offence of misconduct in public office”, Mackin said.

A Department of Justice spokesperson said O’Callaghan apologised to the victims at the meeting for the “wholly inadequate investigation” by gardaí in 1987 and for the “clear dereliction of duty by Chief Superintendent Chapman and Acting Superintendent Hayes”.

The Minister confirmed that a Memorandum to Government will go to Cabinet shortly which will commence the formal process of offering Kenneally’s victims a full and formal State apology.

O’Callaghan also intends to bring the final report of the Commission of Investigation Report to Dáil Eireann for debate “as a priority”.

The Justice Minister also told the victims that he had accepted the recommendation to refer to the Law Reform Commission for assessment on whether misconduct in public office should be established as a separate statutory offence.

Following the publication of the report into Kenneally’s abuse there were calls for a new offence to punish those in public office who abuse or neglect their powers.

Thirteen years on from when he first made a formal complaint about Kenneally, Clancy said once they receive the state apology the group will be “done”, adding at that point “our fight is over”.

He said it would allow for a “new chapter” in his life, and the abuse he suffered and his fight for justice has taken “a huge toll” on his family.