Investigation recommended into convicted sex offender and former hospital consultant Michael Shine – The Irish Times

A statutory commission of investigation should be carried out into convicted sex offender and former hospital consultant Michael Shine, an independent report has recommended.

Shine worked in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda from 1964 until 1995. In March that year the chief executive of the hospital was informed of a complaint of abuse against Shine by the North Eastern Health Board.

Shine took leave while the complaint was addressed and subsequently retired in October that year. By the time of his retirement, he was already the subject of multiple allegations of sexual abuse, going back as far as the 1970s.

He was convicted in 2017 of sexual offences and in 2019 convicted of assaulting seven boys between 1971 and 1992. He served three years in prison.

Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill announced a scoping exercise into the scandal earlier this year following a meeting in November with the Co Louth-based charity Dignity4Patients, which supports more than 400 survivors.

Senior counsel Lorcan Staines began work in March as the independent facilitator to conduct the scoping exercise within a time frame of 16 weeks.

In his final report, published on Thursday, Staines said while his role was not to make findings of fact, several “common themes” emerged from the accounts he received from the almost 75 survivors to whom he spoke.

He said allegations of abuse reported to him involved a broad range of ages and were reported to have occurred in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, in Shine’s private practice in Fair Street, Drogheda, and in his own home.

Staines described the impact of the alleged abuse on these men, reporting many of them as being “self-deprecating” and “underplaying the seriousness of what had happened to them”.

“The damage done to these men was palpable, even following the passage of time. It was also clear that the harm had not been borne by them alone but had often radiated outward to their families and to those who cared for them,” he said.

Staines added that nearly all of the survivors who spoke to him “were of the view that Michael Shine’s conduct was a matter of public knowledge at the time”.

“Many referred to local warnings, local comments, and the phrase that ‘the dogs on the street’ knew what was happening,” the report added.

In his conclusion, Staines said the concerns and issues raised by the victims and survivors “have not been sufficiently considered and addressed in previous reviews”.

He recommended that a six-phase commission of investigation should be established and that these phases should run concurrently and start immediately.

“The approach is designed to avoid an inefficient and lengthy process and to provide a workable form of State response to the issues raised.”

[ Court refuses to release transcripts from trials of sex offender Michael ShineOpens in new window ]

According to the report, phase one should be an independent, document-based examination of the history of criminal complaints made to gardaí, the office of Director of Public Prosecutions, and of the decisions made on whether or not to prosecute.

Phase two should be a document-based review of the Medical Council’s response, while phase three should focus on the circumstances surrounding Shine’s retirement.

The report said phase four should focus on current patient-protection policies in the Irish healthcare system.

Phase five should be an “independent truth and recovery process” that allows victims and survivors to be heard in their own right.

Finally, phase six should amount to a “comprehensive investigation” into the actions of and events surrounding the abuse committed by Shine, followed by a report setting out, so far as the evidence permits, what was known, by whom, and at what stage.

In the Dáil Tánaiste Simon Harris said survivors would be involved in the discussions on the terms of reference.

He also agreed funding would be provided to the Dignity4Patients patient group to continue to support the men through the process.

Responding to Labour’s Ged Nash, a Co Louth TD who called for the men abused by Shine and particularly for Dignity4Patients “to be involved centrally in agreeing the terms of reference with the Attorney General”, and for the latter to receive continued funding.

Nash, who has campaigned for the survivors for the past 15 years, said “many of these men, victims and survivors, are friends of mine. They’re people who I went to school with, I played football with, I hung around with.

“I’ve said time and again that a spell in jail does not justice make, and a light must be shone into the environment that allowed a prolific paedophile to operate within our public health service with impunity unchallenged for over 30 years.”

In a statement, the Medical Council said it welcomed the publication of the scoping exercise and that it will fully engage and support the Commission of Investigation.

“The determination of survivors to seek answers has, and will continue to have, a significant positive impact on patient safety into the future . . . Although our processes and primary legislation have changed significantly in recent years, our focus is on learning from the findings and ensuring that the lessons identified are fully understood”, its CEO Dr Maria O’Kane said.