Updated / Thursday, 18 Jun 2026 13:57
Jason Clancy (left) and Kevin Keating in Waterford city this afternoon
Two victims of Bill Kenneally's abuse have said that the convicted paedophile's death has given them some closure.
Kenneally used his position as a basketball coach to abuse teenagers in Waterford in the 70s and 80s.
He died today while serving a jail term at Midlands Prison after pleading guilty to 10 sample counts of indecently assaulting 10 boys .
Kenneally's death comes just days after it was confirmed that his victims and survivors are to be offered a "full and formal" State apology.
On Tuesday, Minister for Justice Jim O'Callaghan confirmed that a memorandum will go to Cabinet shortly that will commence the formal process of offering the apology to the victims.
Jason Clancy and Kevin Keating, along with several more victims, previously waived their right to anonymity to call for a Commission of Investigation to be set up into the handling of the abuse.
Mr Clancy said that today was like a "full circle moment".
He said: "Last week we got closure from the Commission of Investigation's report, total vindication, and obviously there is a huge amount of closure there.
"But then, for this to happen, it's like it has come full circle now. Look, I don't celebrate anybody's death, I don't mourn it or anything, but certainly I feel that it has just come full circle now, and it's just full closure."
The Commission of Investigation, set up to examine the response to what was one of the most serious cases of paedophilia ever uncovered in Ireland, found there was a clear and serious dereliction of duty by senior gardaí, even by the standards of the time.
In its final report that was published last week, the commission found that while there was no evidence of widespread collusion by State authorities in preventing the prosecution of Kenneally, who was connected to a powerful political dynasty in Waterford, the failure to investigate the matter properly in 1987 and 1988 had devastating consequences for his victims.
Speaking in Waterford this afternoon, Mr Clancy went on to say: "I'm so glad that he didn't pass away two weeks earlier and never got to hear or read or see the [Commission of Investigation] report.
"If he was going to pass, I'm certainly glad he passed after the findings were published," he added.
Meanwhile, Mr Keating said that he would have preferred if Kenneally lived until he served the end of his prison sentence.
He said: "I don't take any pleasure in him dying, but for me, I would have preferred him to be alive for every single minute of his sentence.
"He [Kenneally] was never going to do any harm again to anybody. So, it is an end of a chapter, it's a close of a chapter.
"He doesn't rule over me anymore. That finished when he went to jail."
Mr Keating also said that it was important that Kenneally got to see the outcome of the investigation into the handling of his abuse.
He said: "[It was] huge, massive, massive… and the reason for that is that he was able to see that we were no longer his used boys, that we were ones that were standing up and we were starting to win.
"For him to actually see the heading saying we are vindicated, it was huge," Mr Keating added.
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