Abuse Survivor Colin Power said that although he and his fellow survivors "have been down this road before," they left today's meeting with Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan with a renewed sense of optimism.
Kenneally, formerly of Laragh, Summerville Avenue in Waterford City, is currently serving a 14 year sentence for the indecent assault of 10 teenage boys in the 1980's.
Today's meeting between the survivor group and Minister Flanagan focused on setting up a commission of investigation to establish how a number of state agencies handled their case.
"We've been down this road before with the previous minister (Frances Fitzgerald) and a year later we're still waiting," Colin Power told WLR News, "This is the first time I've been really confident coming out of a meeting that there is genuine concern there and that this will happen. I would expect it to start in the summer."
Mr. Power said that the Minister and Attorney General had advised them that the potential for new court cases against Kenneally has had a bearing on their investigation.
"They needed to put in safeguards into the terms of reference (for the investigation) to make sure it didn't affect anybody else's case against Kenneally," he said, "If anybody else wanted to take a case, we would be behind them as well."
