SURVIVORS OF THE sexual abuse of notorious predator Bill Kenneally will today receive a state apology.

The formal apology, which is expected to acknowledge a dereliction of duty by the state, will be made by Taoiseach Micheál Martin in the Dáil this afternoon.

Kenneally died in prison last month while serving a near 20-year term in prison for indecently assaulting 10 boys at various locations in Waterford in the 1980s.

His death came just days after the publication of a major state report into his abuses and how authorities dealt with reports of his crimes in the decades before he was finally brought to justice.

The report found a “clear and serious dereliction of duty” on behalf of An Garda Síochána and stated 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.

Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan is also expected to speak in the Dáil today.

He met with the survivors and victims of Kenneally last month, when he told them that he “couldn’t avoid” the report’s finding that there was a dereliction of duty on the part of An Garda Síochána back in 1987.

“I am the minister with responsibility for An Garda Síochána, that’s why I apologised to them when they came into the Department of Justice to see me. I know they met the Taoiseach last week, he did the same,” he said.

O’Callaghan said the report recommended that the Law Reform Commission should consider the absence of a criminal offence of “misconduct in public office” in this country.

He said the process of putting that on the statute book “has started”.