By Neil Fetherstonhaugh & Shane Phelan - Sunday Word - 20/03/2025 - [Michael Shine] - [ IRELAND]
Victims of paedophile Michael Shine are to meet the Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, it has been confirmed. Victims had waged an intense campaign for a sit-down meeting with ministers to discuss their calls for a public inquiry into the prolific sex abuse case.
In a statement issued to The Journal last night, a spokesperson for the Department of Health said: “The Minister for Health would be willing to meet with the Dignity4Patients support group.
She has asked her officials to engage with the group in this regard.”
In January it was revealed that new lawsuits had been initiated over the activities of the convicted child abuser. Nine civil cases were filed shortly before Christmas against Shine and the religious order that ran the hospital where he once worked. Much of the abuse is said to have occurred at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda, Co Louth, where he was a consultant surgeon from 1964 until his retirement in 1995, and at private rooms he kept elsewhere.
Although he is feared to have abused hundreds of young males, Shine is a free man after serving just three years in prison for assaults on nine boys.
He is unlikely to face further criminal prosecution after the DPP decided two years ago not to press charges in relation to complaints made by 25 men. That decision was made in the wake of a Court of Appeal ruling that it would be unjust for the 93-year-old to face a further trial due to his age and health.
The latest lawsuits were filed by nine clients of Dublin law firm Pearse Mehigan Solicitors LLP against Shine and a nominee of the Medical Missionaries of Mary, which previously ran the hospital. Dignity4Patients, a support group, said it expected this number to grow in the coming months while other avenues to justice remain closed off at present.
The activities of Shine were previously the subject of two multi-million-euro civil settlements, involving more than 200 former patients, in 2012 and 2022. Since the most recent settlement, victims have ramped up their campaign for a public inquiry or commission or investigation.
Taoiseach Simon Harris said last August that the Government would reflect on those calls, but a decision is still awaited. Mr Harris later said he had asked officials for a “paper” setting out options and outlining work that has been done to date.
Dignity4Patients chief executive Adrienne O’Reilly said Mr Harris should not issue a report about what should happen without first consulting with victims. “We are still in a position where those making decisions do not meet with the victims and statements are made about them, without them. We are hoping that post-election, going into the new government term, this will radically change.”
Ms O’Reilly said then-Tánaiste Micheál Martin had given a pre-election commitment to meet victims “in early course” after the election.
The terms of the most recent settlements in 2022 were kept confidential. However, sources familiar with the deal, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said individual awards largely ranged between €20,000 and €65,000. Shine did not participate in the lawsuits, which were handled by the religious order’s insurers. The order ran the hospital until 1997, when ownership was transferred to the then North Eastern Health Board.
The first complaint against Shine, alleging indecent assault, was made by a former patient in 1994. He retired on a full pension less than a year later but was struck off the medical register in 2008. Last August a number of men spoke publicly about the abuse for the first time in a series of in-depth interviews with The Journal. More than 360 men have reported being sexually abused by the now disgraced doctor while he worked at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda and his private surgery in the Louth town.
A once revered surgeon, Shine began working as a senior registrar in 1964 and was quickly promoted to consultant in 1968, staying at the hospital until 1995. Survivors claim that Medical Missionaries of Mary were aware of the abuse and allowed it to continue for decades. Support and advocacy organisation Dignity4Patients is campaigning for a Commission of Investigation on behalf of the victims.
Lawyer Diarmuid Brecknell of the Belfast-based firm Phoenix Law represents a number of the men who are pushing for a public inquiry. Shine’s name has long been associated with legal battles about the many allegations against him.
He was first accused of abuse by a whistle-blower in 1995 and charged with indecent assault in 1996. His legal tactics delayed any trial relating to those charges from starting until 2003. He was then acquitted. Two more trials, in 2017 and 2019, saw him found guilty of assaults against nine boys.
More charges led to another protracted legal saga, culminating in the Court of Appeal ruling that “cumulative factors” – including Shine’s age and health, and a ‘misstep’ by the Director of Public Prosecutions – meant the case was in a “wholly exceptional category where it would be unjust to put the appellant on trial”. If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article and were abused in state run medical and health facilities, you can contact Dignity4Patients, whose helpline is open Monday to Thursday 10am to 4pm.