Some 50 charges are expected to be brought against George Gibney if he is successfully extradited to Ireland.
The former swimming coach, who is in his 70s, has been arrested in the United States following an extradition request from Irish officials.
On Newstalk Breakfast, Irish Times journalist Jack Power explained why Mr Gibney’s name will be familiar to many people.
“He would have had a lot of success coaching swimmers that went on to have great careers during the 80s and the 90s in Ireland,” he said.
“Ireland was a little rocked by a bombshell in 1993 when Gibney faced criminal charges over several counts of indecency against young swimmers and having carnal knowledge of young girls under the age of 15.
“That was probably one of the most high profile abuse scandals in recent Irish history.”
In 1994, Mr Gibney took a successful legal case against the DPP, arguing in the High Court that he should not be prosecuted.
The case was successful and an injunction against the charges was issued; Mr Gibney then moved to Scotland, before ultimately settling in the United States.
“In more recent years, Gardaí have been investigating fresh allegations of historical child sex abuse against Gibney,” Mr Power continued.
“Prompted in part by a popular podcast Where is George Gibney? that really went over and covered some of the ground that was known about but had faded a little bit into recent memory.
“That reignited publicity around the case and, on foot of that, I understand a significant number of further alleged victims of Gibney came forward and made complaints to An Garda Síochána.
“That has culminated in this recent investigation [and] Gardaí have sought an extradition warrant to arrest Gibney.
“He has been taken into custody in the United States over in Florida, where he’d been living in recent years.”
Return to Ireland
Mr Power added that extradition will likely “take quite a while” and could be delayed significantly if Mr Gibney decided to contest the process.
“As I understand it, the initial request for extradition was sent last year,” Mr Power said.
“We’ve been aware that this has been in train for several months but have refrained from publishing anything until Gibney had been taken into custody - for fear of jeopardising the criminal process.
“They’re intending to charge him with more than 50 counts or charges related to alleged historical child sexual abuse.
“That process moved over the United States side of things and it was up to the US State Department to process that, then US marshals to enforce that arrest.”
Anyone impacted by the issues raised in this article can contact One In Four on 01 66 24070 or Women’s Aid on 1800 341 900.
Main image: Goerge Gibney. Picture by: RollingNews.ie.
