Victims of Paedophile Bill Kenneally Call for a Parish Priest to Resign As Chair of a Primary School Board of Management
By Saoirse Mcgarrigle
Victims of paedophile Bill Kenneally are calling for a parish priest to resign as chair of a primary school board of management. Monsignor John Shine is an uncle of Bill Kenneally and heads up the Holy Cross National School in Tramore, Co Waterford. The Sunday Independent reported a Waterford woman told Bill Kenneally’s cousin – former TD Brendan – her son had been abused in 2002 but he called the priest instead of reporting it to gardai. Sports coach Bill Kenneally, 66, was jailed in February for 14 years for abusing boys in the 1980s – and now his victims want the cleric to be removed from his position. Survivor Colin Power said: “The role of a board of management is to safeguard children from awful things like this. You can’t have a man who knew his nephew was a paedophile and did nothing in a position like this in a primary school.
“I had a lot of guilt about it all. I used to think if I had told someone it would have stopped and the younger lads who were abused after me could have been saved. “That really affected me for a very long time. It niggled at me. I was feeling bad that as a 14-year-old boy I didn’t do something but now I know that adults in Waterford knew about it and turned a blind eye. “It really baffles me. He got away with it because these high-society people turned a blind eye.” Holy Cross principal John Kindlon said he could not comment on the situation as he is directly employed by the board of management which is chaired by Monsignor Shine. Contacted by this newspaper the priest refused to discuss the issue. He added: “No I won’t talk to you. I’m having my lunch.” Survivors are taking legal action against the State, the gardai and the HSE and want a Commission of Inquiry to find out who knew what about Kenneally’s abuse.
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