Gardaí are contacting US authorities about ex-swimming coach George Gibney’s sexual abuse allegations
Gardaí have provided the DPP with a file detailing historical allegations of sexual abuse against Gibney
Last week it was revealed that gardaí had submitted a file to the DPP into historic allegations of sexual abuse against Gibney. The 72-year-old lives in the USA, his last known locations are at various addresses throughout Florida.
A specialist team within the Garda National Protective Services Bureau (GNPSB) has been investigating the historic allegations against Gibney for three years.
It is understood several new victims have made allegations and gardaí have recommended more than 50 charges be laid against Gibney.
“The investigation was methodical. “Gardaí have been in contact with law enforcement in the US,” a source said.
“If the DPP files charges, gardaí would immediately demand Gibney’s return to Ireland from the US through a formal extradition agreement between the two countries. We want this to happen smoothly if it comes to it.
“The final situation we would face would be not knowing where George Gibney is if we suddenly wanted to extradite him back to Ireland to face charges.”
The disgraced swimming coach left Ireland 30 years ago after winning a judicial review that dropped his prosecution on previous charges.
Gardaí reopened an investigation into the former swimming coach after several people made allegations against him on the BBC podcast Where is George Gibney? three years ago.
The former national team and Olympic swimming coach was arrested in April 1993 and charged with raping seven boys and girls.
These allegations dated back to 1966 to 1982. However, he won a judicial review in the Supreme Court to dismiss the proceedings and he was never prosecuted and the state never appealed the decision.
The DPP also ordered that he should not be prosecuted following a second investigation in 1996 after a number of other young swimmers were allegedly sexually abused by him.
After leaving Ireland, he first moved to Scotland before traveling to the USA.
The BBC podcast prompted at least 18 of his former swimmers to come forward with new claims that he abused them, according to the show’s producers.
In 2021, gardaí confirmed they were reinvestigating Gibney after two more former child swimmers made new allegations against him.
The two women were moved to contact gardaí after listening to the podcast, produced by Second Captains, an Irish sports journalism collective, in collaboration with the BBC, which has been listened to more than a million times.
Gibney cannot be retried on any of the charges dismissed in 1994, but shortly after his original charges were dropped, Irish case law changed, making it easier to prosecute new allegations of historical child sex offenses.
