I welcome the survivors in the Gallery today. Today is a momentous day for you all, for everyone who suffered at the hands of Bill Kenneally and who fought bravely for decades to be believed and to be supported. This apology should have happened years ago because the horrific abuse inflicted on young boys was not solely the work of one predatory monster. It was the consequence of institutional failure by the State. Bill Kenneally's abuse was cruel beyond belief. He was calculated. He used alcohol, gifts and money to groom boys. He used intimidation, restraint and degrading photographs to control them. His crimes were among the most serious imaginable and their effects have lasted a lifetime, and State failure allowed him to keep doing it. Senior gardaí were aware of allegations against him. The principal of De La Salle secondary school knew. The South-Eastern Health Board knew. Billy Kenneally senior knew. Brendan Kenneally knew. Monsignor John Shine knew. Parents had raised concerns. Boys themselves tried. They reached out to figures of authority who should have helped them. They gave statements and handed in photographic evidence, but the people who were supposed to protect them did not. The handling of the case by An Garda Síochána and the South-Eastern Health Board was a horrific dereliction of duty. The commission of investigation was very clear in that. It found that Bill Kenneally could have been arrested. His home could have been searched. Evidence could have been secured. Other victims could have been identified. Child protection measures could have been put in place. Instead, the local institutions of the State in Waterford circled the wagons. They protected a powerful man who came from a powerful family, with no regard to the safety of the children who were suffering at his hands. Those are failures that changed lives irreparably because after gardaí interviewed Bill Kenneally in December 1987, he walked out of Waterford Garda station and continued to abuse children up until 1993 - children who could and should have been protected. The extraordinary courage shown by survivors is what brought us here today. They forced the truth into the open and fought against institutions that did not want to listen. They relived unimaginable trauma in the pursuit of justice so that future generations of children might be safer. That should never have been necessary to receive justice, but it is a path this State forces survivors down time and time again. Ireland has become far too comfortable with empty apologies. The survivors of the mother and baby homes received an apology yet, today, families are still pleading with the Government not to permit apartments to be built on the grounds of Bessborough, where hundreds of children remain unaccounted for. Survivors of child sexual abuse in our schools received apologies yet women abused in Dunderrow National School are still being denied redress and forced through the courts. The remaining thalidomide survivors are still waiting for a State apology - still waiting for justice. The point of a State apology is not whether it is moving; it is whether it results in change, whether every recommendation of the commission is implemented, whether survivors receive justice without having to spend another decade fighting for it, whether this Government will finally get its head around the fact that accountability does not end with saying "Sorry" but, rather, begins there. These men deserve more than words. I sincerely hope the Government delivers action.

Sentiment score: -0.03