I am glad to speak for the Labour Party in today's important debate. I welcome our guests in the Distinguished Visitors Gallery. I pay tribute to all of the survivors whose courage has made this report and the State apology happen. I pay tribute to Jason Clancy, Paul Walsh, Kevin Keating, Colin Power, Barry Murphy, Simon O'Toole, Gerard Mullane and all those who were abused by Bill Kenneally. My thoughts are with those watching at home, as well as those here in the Gallery. For decades, you and they have had to carry a deep trauma. While there is nothing that can make amends for the terrible abuse inflicted upon you as children, I hope that the State apology will be of some solace. I welcome the Taoiseach's apology. I also welcome the report. The South East Commission of Investigation submitted its final 419-page report to the Minister on 8 June. I commend Mr. Justice Michael White and his team on this significant piece of important work. It is a report that documents the depraved and systematic sexual abuse of children by the paedophile, Bill Kenneally. It also sets out the chronology and detail of the subsequent mishandling of allegations against Kenneally. The details are nothing short of horrendous. So many young lives were destroyed by Kenneally's heinous crimes. It was such an abuse of power. The report states, "Bill Kenneally held a trusted voluntary position as a basketball coach and also a privileged place in society as part of an extended highly regarded family in Waterford." This chilling phrase reminds us of just how Kenneally was able to get away with this abuse of power, how he tortured young boys over many years in horrific ways, how he exploited his position of authority and his privilege to abuse boys and how he silenced boys and young men by means of blackmail and intimidation. The report also reminds us that when some of his young victims found the courage to report him, their bravery was met with inertia or worse by gardaí. The report is unequivocal in that regard. I welcome its clear finding that for far too long there was a clear dereliction of duty on the part of senior gardaí in dealing with Kenneally's despicable crimes. The consequences were grave. Had proper procedures been followed in the 1980s, we know many children could have been protected from suffering at Kenneally's hands. Contact was made with gardaí in 1987, and the commission has found that clearly that gardaí at that point had the power to arrest Kenneally, search his dwelling and car and detain him pursuant to section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984. That Act, which had been commenced, permitted arrest and, crucially, detention for interrogation. However, that did not transpire. Instead, Sean Cashman, the acting chief superintendent in Waterford, contacted Bill Kenneally's uncles who were, in the words of the report, "prominent public figures". Mr. Justice White is highly critical of the decision to contact retired TD Billy Kenneally and Monsignor John Shine. Mr. Justice White notes that a scandal involving their nephew being made public was not "an attractive prospect" to them. A chilling phrase again. As a result, this sadistic perpetrator was left to circulate in the community and given continued access to other children. Cashman deviated from humane or proper procedure, giving Bill Kenneally a mere warning and referring him for psychiatric treatment. The report documents how in 2001, some 14 years later, contact was again made, this time with then TD Brendan Kenneally. The former Deputy did not formally report this to the relevant agencies. Instead, he too sought counsel from Billy Kenneally and Monsignor John Shine. Again, the only substantive step taken was to arrange further psychiatric treatment. At that point, three influential members of the Kenneally family were on notice of Bill Kenneally's crimes, namely a serving public representative, a former public representative and a senior member of the clergy. This was a microcosm of the church-State collusion we now know caused and delivered some deep hurt and trauma to women and children in particular in Ireland's recent past. A full Garda investigation into Bill Kenneally began in 2012. I pay tribute to all those journalists, gardaí, and legal teams who took this on and ensured in the end, along with courageous survivors, that this investigation would commence and that Bill Kenneally would be convicted and jailed in 2016. As we know, he died last month. With this report, we finally have a fuller picture not just of his crimes but of the failures of the State. No institution comes out of the report well, not the gardaí, not the health authorities, not the sporting bodies, and certainly not representatives of Fianna Fáil or the Catholic Church. I welcome this State apology and the Taoiseach's words on behalf of his party. That was very meaningful. What comes next? The State's response and all of our responses as legislators must be to ensure that survivors' interests are at the fore of all considerations and that responses are survivor-led. The report makes several very important recommendations. It recommends an urgent review of the need to introduce a criminal offence of misconduct in public office. We are told that the Law Reform Commission is now considering that measure, which is very welcome. We must proceed with this. Placing such an offence on the Statute Book would help to undo what we now know is a dangerous say nothing culture that prevailed through much of the 20th century. Putting such an offence into law would show that no one is above reproach, whatever their position of privilege, and that where anyone puts others in harm's way or fails to take steps to remove them from harm's way, they will be responsible. I reiterate Labour’s strong support for the introduction of that crucial new offence and for the implementation of other recommendations of the report. I welcome the Taoiseach's commitment to see legal proceedings that are still in being against the gardaí resolved swiftly, and indeed the commitment that alternative means of redress outside the legal process will be examined by the State. This is very important. Clearly, the State cannot turn back the clock to undo failings or even complicity but the State can and must do better now. We have learned over recent decades about failings in previous redress schemes. We learned from those. The State must also look at taking measures that are being proposed, for example, to ensure that redress will be forthcoming from religious orders because there has been that aspect, in that it has been very difficult for survivors to recover redress where religious orders have been involved. Just last week, the Government voted to delay the Labour redress Bill by six months, a redress Bill which would ensure that survivors could pursue religious orders or other unincorporated bodies for redress where they have acted to enable or facilitate sexual abuse of children. I reiterate my call on the Government to ensure that work can be done quickly to pass that Bill into law. In conclusion, Taoiseach, Tánaiste, members of Government, and, in particular, survivors, today is a very important day. We mark the wrong that was done to you as survivors and to the other survivors who continue to suffer in silence and who have not or who have not yet come forward. It is for survivors to be the arbiter of whether the State gets its response today and over the coming weeks and months right. We know the report points us in the direction that we must go but we also need to hear and learn from you what we can do better as we go forward. I thank survivors again. I pay tribute to you and acknowledge all of you who are not here today who have not yet come forward publicly. Today is for you. It is for all survivors of abuse. We are thinking of you and we stand with you.

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