Former Fianna Fáil TD Brendan Kenneally has denied attempting to sweep allegations against his cousin Bill Kenneally, now a convicted child abuser, “under the carpet”.
A State-commissioned inquiry into the response to claims made against Bill Kenneally, a former basketball coach and accountant, has heard that Brendan Kenneally became aware in 2001 of the historic abuse of two boys by his cousin.
Bill Kenneally (72), of Laragh, Summerville Road, Waterford, was first convicted in 2016 and is now serving prison sentences of more than 18 years for abusing 15 boys between 1979 and 1990.
The commission of investigation, which has since late 2018 been examining the response of State and other agencies to claims against him, has heard that gardaí believe he abused at least 29 boys.
Some victims have alleged there was collusion between gardaí, the Catholic Diocese of Waterford and Lismore, the former South Eastern Health Board, Basketball Ireland and unnamed political figures to prevent Bill Kenneally being arrested and charged years earlier.
Giving evidence to the commission on Wednesday, Brendan Kenneally, who was a TD and senator between 1989 and 2011, said it was “such a shock” when a woman came to his Waterford constituency office in August 2001 to inform him her partner and another man had been abused by his cousin as minors.
He believed her when she told him one of the victims had been stripped to his underwear, tied to a tree and photographed. He said he did not inform gardaí because the woman was “adamant” she did not want it to be reported and he did not feel he had enough evidence without identifying her.
The woman wanted to ensure that no other child would be harmed and that was also his main focus, he said.
Brendan Kenneally said he asked his father, Billy Kenneally, also a former Fianna Fáil TD, now deceased, for advice and then discovered, to his “total shock”, that his father and the late Msgr John Shine, who was Bill Kenneally’s uncle, were aware of an earlier abuse claim.
The commission heard previously that now-retired superintendent Seán Cashman approached Billy Kenneally after a businessman complained in late 1987 that Bill Kenneally had abused his schoolboy son and another boy. The father twice refused to allow gardaí to interview the boy, so Supt Cashman asked Billy Kenneally to bring the alleged perpetrator to the station, which he did.
Following the 2001 disclosure, Brendan Kenneally said his father advised him to talk to Msgr Shine, who then spoke to the perpetrator about the claims. Brendan Kenneally arranged for his cousin to see a psychiatrist who, he said, was employed by the South Eastern Health Board.
The former politician said he was told a lot of confidential information from his constituents and he would never betray their confidence. “I took what I thought were appropriate steps in getting Bill assessed by a psychiatrist and reported back to [the woman] what I had been told.”
He added: “I could not see how gardaí could progress anything with the information I could have given them. Now, maybe I was wrong.”
He said he accepted, with hindsight, that he “probably did not do enough”. He kept a watch over his cousin from 2001 who, by then, “had no access” to minors in basketball. “If I discovered at any stage that he was involved with juveniles then, of course, I would have to act, but he was not.”
In response to questioning from the commission’s senior counsel, Ercus Stewart, Brendan Kenneally said he “certainly did not make any effort to sweep it under the carpet”.
Barra McGrory SC, representing several survivors, pointed to the commitment made in 1999 by then taoiseach Bertie Ahern to make child abuse a key issue for the government. Brendan Kenneally said he did not need to be told this in 1999 to know “how abhorrent child abuse is”.
Asked if he feared his political career would suffer if news of his cousin abusing children became public, Brendan Kenneally said the thought never entered his head.
Mr McGrory asked if he questioned why his father advised him to speak to a monsignor related to the abuser rather than the authorities. Brendan Kenneally said he did not question that.
When he went to Msgr Shine, the clergyman said “something along the lines of ‘oh no not again’”, Brendan Kenneally said. He did not ask him if he knew how many boys had been abused.
Perhaps he was naive in believing a trained psychiatrist could provide sufficient answers, he said, adding: “At all times, whether wrong or not, I thought I was doing what was right.”
Bill Kenneally pleaded guilty last May on the sixth day of his trial to the sexual abuse of five boys between 1979 and 1990. A 4½-year prison sentence was added to a 14-year term imposed on him in 2016 after pleading guilty to sexually abusing 10 boys from 1984 to 1987.
Gardaí began investigating Bill Kenneally after Jason Clancy made a complaint in late 2012 of being abused as a teenager between 1984 and 1988. The commission held its hearings in private until last week to prevent prejudicing the second criminal case against Kenneally.
Brendan Kenneally will continue giving evidence to the commission at a later date.
