Crime World

 This week, Bill Kenneally, one of Ireland's worst ever child sexual predators, died at the Midlands Prison in Portlaoise.

The 75-year-old was also a member of Waterford's most powerful political dynasties, a collection of Fianna Fáil TDs, senators, city councillors, and mayors who served for almost 60 years, right up until 2011.

His influential connections didn't stop there. A late uncle, Monsignor John Shine, was a leading member of the Catholic Church in their home county.

As far as we know, Kenneally began his horrific campaign of sexual abuse when he was just 17 years old, and despite victims reporting his vile crimes to the gardai as far back as 1985, it took until 2016 before he was finally jailed.

For more than eight years, a commission of investigation examined how state authorities, the Catholic Church clergy, politicians, sporting organisations, and others dealt with the allegations of sexual abuse made by young boys against Kenneally.

The commission, chaired by Michael White, heard over 5,000 pages of testimony, and last week they released their findings in a devastating report.

It stated how there were missed opportunities and a clear and serious dereliction of duty by gardai, even by the standards of the late '80s.

Last week, before Kenneally died, we spoke to sexual abuse survivor Jason Clancy, who, along with five of his childhood friends and fellow survivors, Kevin Keating, Gerry Mullane, Barry Murphy, Colin Power, and Paul Walsh, went public in their efforts to get to the full truth about Kenneally's heinous crimes and why it took so long to get him stopped.

Please be warned, this podcast contains disturbing and frank details about sexual abuse.