THE STORY of George Gibney and allegations of historical child sex abuse against the former Olympic swimming coach in Ireland is well-known.

In 1994, the Irish Supreme Court ruled that Gibney’s 27 counts of indecent carnal knowledge of minors, with some of the allegations dating as far back as the 1960s, were too old to allow the coach to mount an appropriate defence, and therefore could not be prosecuted.

It is less clear what has happened to Gibney since he fled the country, first to Scotland, and then ultimately to America.

American journalist Irvin Muchnick has been investigating sexual abuse in the sport of swimming since 2012. His new book, ‘Underwater: The Greed-Soaked Tale of Sexual Abuse in USA Swimming and Around the Globe,’ devotes two chapters to the Gibney story, which he has pursued since 2015.

The former coach spent several years in Colorado, then lived in Napa, California and is understood to have moved within Florida on several occasions.

Initially, after leaving Ireland, Gibney had been sacked from his job at the Warrender Baths Club in Edinburgh after details of his background were discovered.

He then moved to Arvada, Colorado, a suburb of Denver. But once more, details of the past allegations surfaced and Gibney was forced to leave his job.

There is no evidence to suggest that Gibney has subsequently had any other roles in swimming.

“Of course, he got that job,” Muchnick says. “To become a coach at this team in Arvada, Colorado, he had to have been at least briefly a member of USA Swimming, and passed whatever passes for USA Swimming’s background checks.”

Since then, Gibney has worked in various corporate jobs, in human resources and accounting. He worked in the hospitality industry in California before moving to Florida.

“I’m not sure exactly what he’s doing now,” says Muchnick. “He’s very old. I think he’s just volunteering at a hospice.”

***

Muchnick points to the work undertaken by Irish journalists Johnny Watterson and Justine McCarthy in leading the way in the coverage of sexual abuse in Irish swimming.

Last month, former Irish international swimming coach and serial child abuser Derry O’Rourke was jailed for the rape and sexual assault of a teenage girl 35 years ago.

O’Rourke has already spent years in jail for multiple offences after his original conviction in January 1998.

McCarthy wrote an acclaimed book, ‘Deep Deception: Ireland’s Swimming Scandals,’ while Watterson’s work for the now-defunct Sunday Tribune publicised the allegations against Gibney.

More recently, Gibney’s story was the subject of renewed interest in Ireland thanks to the BBC and Second Captains’ 2020 podcast, ‘Where Is George Gibney?’ 

Last November, it was reported that a file had been submitted to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) following a Garda investigation into fresh allegations against Gibney.

It was not the first time the DPP had investigated the case but it renewed hopes that the disgraced coach could face extradition from the US.

Yet nine months later, there have been no new developments and a conspicuous silence that those who have followed the Gibney case from its outset will be familiar with.

“There’s a problem in Ireland, which doesn’t have a First Amendment [a law that protects freedom of speech] unlike my country, so the press coverage isn’t quite as aggressive.

“But the American media haven’t done such a good job, with the First Amendment, in following through.”

Muchnick continues: “I put in inquiries from time to time and the Gardaí just say: ‘No comment on ongoing investigations.’ So it’s very frustrating. I think it needs constant daylight and constant exposure.” 

***

Exactly how American authorities allowed Gibney to enter and reside in the US remains uncertain.

In a Freedom of Information lawsuit filed by Muchnick in 2015, it was established that Gibney arrived in America on a diversity lottery visa.

“There were programmes engineered by Irish-American politicians, that put Irish applicants for visas in America, higher up in the queue than people from other countries in different places around the world.

“And Gibney appears to have put that diversity lottery visa in his pocket until it was most effective to use it. And that was on the eve of his indictment in 1993, and the application shows that he was asked if he had not only ever been convicted of a crime, but had ever been arrested and prosecuted. And he answered that question ‘no,’ which was true at the time, but it wasn’t true weeks after the submission of that statement.

“And he got a certificate of character from the Garda precinct. And so he seemed to have a clean bill of health even though we knew that the justice system was bearing down on him for things that had been reported in the press and that victims had sworn out affidavits for. But he did get to America. He then could renew his green card at intervals, without having to re-answer whether he had ever been arrested or prosecuted.

“For some reason, the Green Card renewal applications only asked if he had a change of address and a change of marital status and stuff of that sort. And that’s where things stood until 2010.”

Every so often, there would be more stories in the Irish media on Gibney and his past became more widely known globally. Amid this increased pressure, Gibney applied for naturalised citizenship.

However, he could no longer cover up the information of his past, details of which had been passed on to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services by Irish-American businessman Evin Daly’s One Child International, a child protection agency with offices in Dublin, North Miami and Sydney. 

“It’s like a catch-22,” Muchnick adds. “Even though he’s disgraced, he’s an old man living in relative seclusion in Central Florida. And so it stands until Ireland’s DPP does something about it.” 

UNDERWATER: The Greed-Soaked Tale of Sexual Abuse in USA Swimming and Around the Globe will be published by ECW Press, distributed by Simon & Schuster. Links for pre-orders are here.