Let’s Talk about the Other (Scrupulously Unpublicized) Defendants in Ireland’s Historical Sexual Abuse Cases Who Enjoyed Get-Out-of-Jail-Free Cards Thanks to the Supreme Court’s 1994 George Gibney ‘Delay Card’ Ruling
July 14, 2026T-Minus One Week to George Gibney’s Sentencing. Also, 32 Years Into Lack of Scrutiny of the Corrupt Irish Legal Regime That Allowed Gibney and Fellow Child Molesters to Roam Free.
July 22, 2026PREVIOUSLY:
“The George Gibney Victory Lap — And Beyond,” July 6, https://concussioninc.net/?p=16697
“The Irish Taboo Against Mentioning in the Same Breath Susan Denham (of the Supreme Court Panel That Sprang George Gibney in 1994) and Patrick Gageby (Gibney’s Barrister and Denham’s Brother),” July 8, https://concussioninc.net/?p=16701
“Introducing the Behind-the-Scenes Tale of the Disastrous Implications of the Irish Supreme Court’s Original 1994 Springing of George Gibney,” July 11, https://concussioninc.net/?p=16708
“Let’s Talk about the Other (Scrupulously Unpublicized) Defendants in Ireland’s Historical Sexual Abuse Cases Who Enjoyed Get-Out-of-Jail-Free Cards Thanks to the Supreme Court’s 1994 George Gibney ‘Delay Card’ Ruling,” July 14, https://concussioninc.net/?p=16715
by Irvin Muchnick
On Tuesday of this week, for the first time since the July 6 conviction of George Gibney, the 1984 and 1988 Irish Olympic swimming coach, on charges of sexual abuse and attempted rape dating back four decades and more, a Google search for online mentions of him dropped to zero. Then came publication of another new sidebar or retrospective or two, plus the American swimming news site SwimSwam’s pickup of the pithy quote of Chalkie White, a root Gibney survivor and whistleblower, that the long-sought conviction represented “a little bit of utopia.”
Less utopian: the silence that continues to prevail with respect to a large piece of national dystopia attached to this little bit of utopia. That would be the failure of anyone in Ireland to raise a peep about the circumstances and larger consequences of the 1994 Supreme Court decision that allowed Gibney to duck clear of his original prosecution. We’re continuing to cover this here.
The robotic Emerald Isle rituals attending every individual anecdote of justice in historical abuse cases — which amount to celebration that the system worked a little bit, followed by empty reflection on the damage done — would be comical if they weren’t so tragic.
Even as Gibney was going down, Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Micheál Martin was issuing a state apology following the near-simultaneous death in prison of Gibney’s fellow serial child abuser Bill Kenneally.
“I apologize unreservedly … to the victims of Bill Kenneally for what was a clear and serious dereliction of duty,” Martin said. “No words from government can make up for the theft of childhood from so many young boys, for the appalling abuse they suffered and the enormous trauma they have experienced in their lives as a result.” Moving forward, the taoiseach promised an official determination “to do everything we can to ensure that no other child has to go through what [Keanneally’s victims] went through.”
Everything they can do might start with an accounting for the travesty that was the Supreme Court ruling in Gibney v. Gilliland. [CORRECTION 7/23/26: The name of the case was actually G. v. DPP. See https://concussioninc.net/?p=16738.]It set a legal standard of permitting a sweeping defense tactic to cite delay in historical claims. The upshot was that it was nearly impossible to bring the Gibneys and the Keanneallys to justice. This standard would start getting adjusted in 1997 to bring the legal equities more in alignment with sanity and decency, but not before scores of well-connected defendants got out from under allegations, without so much as a public hearing, and aided by the legalistic sinew of some of Ireland’s most acclaimed barristers.
One was Patrick Gageby, Gibney’s mouthpiece, who successfully argued the Supreme Court case in front of a panel that included Gageby’s sister, Justice (later Chief Justice) Susan Denham. Leaving aside how anyone interprets or excuses it, this most basic of facts is not even published and held up for discussion and debate anywhere except at Concussion Inc.
And with that kind of North Korean-style censorship, the Irish news media are simply not in the game when it comes to fixing the country’s abuse problem. They’re at the top of the class, however, at recycling already long-known information on podcasts and at generating sympathy for victims once the horses have already bolted through the open barn door.
Another super-barrister who profited from post-Gibney v. Gilliland dismissals, all sealed for clients in private chambers, was Adrian Hardiman. He’d later join Gageby’s sister on the Supreme Court.
Then there was Michael McDowell, whose political career took him to within a heartbeat of taoiseach 20 years ago.
As everyone exults in the proverbial drowning of George Gibney in the waters of Irish swimming’s deep deception, my message to ink-stained wretches and golden-throated broadcasters everywhere remains the same. Jump on in, the water’s fine.
