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VICTIMS OF PAEDOPHILE Michael Shine today published a document detailing how they believe a public inquiry should be conducted to investigate longstanding claims that authorities were aware of the abuse for decades.
The move follows a recent meeting with Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill during which she asked the victims to return with a list of their key demands.
The proposal was drafted, in consultation with the victims, by advocacy organisation Dignity4Patients, lawyer Diarmuid Brecknell of Phoenix Law and DCU associate professor of law Dr James Gallen.
It includes a timeline documenting the harrowing history of abuse, with the earliest known allegation against Shine reported to hospital authorities as far back as 1977.
CEO of Dignity4Patients Adrienne Reilly told The Journal: “Yes, the first known case was reported to hospital in 1977, but because it was never dealt with properly by any authority or organisation or government, we still have people only coming forward to report the abuse now.”
“This is why a Commission of Investigation is needed.”
More than 380 men have to date made allegations against the disgraced surgeon who worked at Our Lady of Lourdes hospital in Drogheda for 30 years. During that time, he also operated a private clinic in the County Louth town.
At a meeting with the victims on April 30th, the Minister for Health requested that the men prepare a proposal outlining the type of inquiry they would like, so she could bring the matter forward for discussion with Taoiseach Micheál Martin and her Government colleagues.
In a statement issued to The Journal, a spokesperson said that the Minister is ”committed to engaging with the Taoiseach and to consult with others on how to best provide answers to the issues raised by Dignity4Patients on behalf of the victims”
Cianan Murray, 68, attended that meeting and was involved in drafting this proposal.
He said that the victims cannot wait any longer for a public inquiry and he hopes that the Minister will respond swiftly.
The father of two, from Duleek, County Meath, told The Journal: “I have been 53 years waiting for justice.”
Cianan says he was abused by Michael Shine in 1972.
He was in hospital having stitches removed from his eye when Shine came into the room and examined him.
Shine suggested that he looked “a little run down” and that he should attend his private surgery that Saturday morning.
“I went to him on that Saturday morning and that was where the abuse occurred,” Cianan said.
He never told his parents what happened, but in 1995 he made a criminal complaint.
The DPP did not recommend charges in relation to Cianan’s case. He says this decision has haunted him for more than 29 years. He believes that he was failed by the justice system.
Shine retired on a full pension in 1995, having worked in Drogheda for 30 years.
Hundreds of men claim that they were abused by the former surgeon, now in his nineties, over decades, but in 2025, he is a free man after serving just three years in prison.
In spite of over 380 victims coming forward, only nine of these men have had successful prosecutions in the criminal courts.
In November 2017, guilty verdicts for Shine on three counts of assaulting two teenage patients on dates between 1974 and 1976 were handed down by a jury.
However, he was granted bail pending an appeal against the conviction.
Shine was eventually jailed for four years in 2019 following a separate case for abusing seven boys in his care over a period of three decades and was released in February 2022.
Shine was struck off the Irish Medical Council’s register in 2008, 13 years after the first allegation was made public.
In 2009, retired High Court judge T.C. Smyth was appointed to lead an independent review of the case, but the report was sealed and never published.
Associate Professor of Law at Dublin City University, James Gallen, is engaging with the victims as they set out their case for a public inquiry.
Alongside Anne-Marie McAlinden of Queen’s University Belfast and Marie Keenan of University College Dublin, Dr Gallen has recently published a book entitled ‘Transforming Justice Responses to Non-Recent Institutional Abuses’.
Published by Oxford University Press, the book draws on extensive research across the island of Ireland and internationally, examining inquiries, redress schemes, and apologies.
It proposes a new framework of justice to “bridge the accountability gap and improve outcomes for victims and survivors by focusing on healing, truth-telling, and institutional reform”.
When asked about his engagement with the victims’ advocacy group, Dr Gallen said: “Meeting with victims’ legal representatives and Dignity4Patients affirmed that there is a need for an alternative to the state’s existing and prior approaches to dealing with the past.
“There is real potential for a new way of addressing these issues, even within current legislation such as the Commission of Investigation. The question is whether there is the political will and commitment to make ‘victim centred’ rhetoric a reality.
“The Dignity4Patients submission offers a clear, principled and achievable set of pathways to meet the needs of victim-survivors of Michael Shine and to address the range of institutional and systemic failures that have occurred in this context.”
Dr Gallen insisted that when conducted properly, a public inquiry can deliver justice for victims.
“The Commission of Investigation Act 2004 retains significant potential to be an appropriate vehicle to deliver justice for victim-survivors of non-recent abuses, especially in validating their experiences, establishing and acknowledging truth about the past including the range of responsibilities of individuals, institutions and State actors, and providing guidance as to how to prevent the recurrence of similar offences and inaction in the future.
“To be truly and meaningfully victim-survivor centred, a justice response such as a commission of investigation needs to involve victim-survivors at every stage of the process – from its design and conception, to its consultation and terms of reference, to its investigations, taking of statements and evidence, and final report and recommendations.”
He stressed that “long after a Commission concludes its work, or an apology is issued, or redress is provided, the enduring memory of survivors across a range of contexts and jurisdictions is how they are treated by state officials and representatives”.
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Support is available. Dignity4Patients is a patient support, information and advocacy organisation for people who have experienced sexual abuse, you can call 041 – 9843730, text 0861654111 or email support@dignity4patients.org from Monday to Thursday, 10am – 4pm. Out of hours, call 1800 778 888.
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