It is understood to be the first time that a religious order in Ireland has sought to reverse its contribution to a redress scheme in a move described by one victim as ‘disgusting’.
Only the Medical Missionaries of Mary – who ran the hospital where abuser Shine worked – and the State know the current value of this fund, which had IR£1.6 million when it was set up in the late 1990s.
The Department of Health is refusing to reveal the amount in the fund to victims.
Hundreds of men claim that they were abused by Shine over decades while he was a surgeon at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda and operated a private practice in the Louth town.
To date, more than 200 victims have settled civil claims against the Medical Missionaries of Mary.
Many were instructed and agreed to sign non-disclosure agreements, which meant that they could not talk to or support one another as they tried to recover from the trauma.
Now there is a fear that men who have come forward and reported abuse in recent years will not get anything.
High Court plenary summons were issued on behalf of nine men shortly before Christmas.
They have now been warned that the nuns are “taking a more aggressive position towards recent proceedings”.
Since The Journal first published a series of in-depth interviews with victims of Michael Shine last August, 17 more men who alleged that they were abused have come forward and are now receiving support from advocacy organisation Dignity4Patients.
A number of these men are making detailed statements to gardaí.
CEO of Dignity4Patients, Adrienne Reilly, said that even more civil lawsuits can be expected this year.
She insists that the fund cannot be touched until all victims of Michael Shine have had an opportunity to take civil cases.
How the fund was set up
Reilly explained that all claims so far have been paid by the Medical Missionaries of Mary’s insurers and as a result of this, the fund itself remained untouched.
The North Eastern Health Board purchased Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in 1997 in a deal worth IR£5.5 million at the time.
The hospital, established in 1939, was owned and run by the nuns until that point.
An archived copy of the agreement, obtained by The Journal, shows that the day before the purchase was announced by then-Health Minister Michael Noonan, the Medical Missionaries of Mary signed a Deed of Indemnity and Charge, dated 15 April 1997.
The purpose of the agreement was to indemnify the State against claims “arising out of or in connection with” potential liability in respect of possible claims of alleged abuse.
The Agreement refers to allegations of abuse at the time that it was signed in 1997: “Various incidents of sexual abuse (‘the alleged abuse’) may have occurred in the hospital during the period of ownership thereof by the Congregation.”
A fund was created and a lodgement of IR£1.6 million was made by the Congregation, into an “interest bearing deposit account with The Investment Bank of Ireland”.
The congregation’s solicitors, Arthur Cox, were “irrevocably appointed by the Order to administer the fund”.
However, two years ago, the Medical Missionaries of Mary sought permission to withdraw the funds, leading to the appointment of an independent expert to decide whether this could be permitted.
That expert is still “in the process of making a determination,” according to the Department of Health.
Victims want to know the current balance of the fund, claiming that it is now considerably higher than the original £1.6 million figure after conversion from pounds to euro and the interest accrued over 28 years.
One estimate suggests that it could be worth at least €3.5 million before interest is taken into account.
The use of the fund
The Department of Health confirmed to The Journal that it and “all parties” receive “regular updates on the value of the monies invested in the fund”.
However, the Department was “not in a position to provide information on the current value of the fund given the nature of the trust arrangements”.
The Department also stressed that, while held in a trust, the fund still belongs to the Medical Missionaries of Mary: “The Deed makes it clear that the fund shall not be used for the purpose of discharging awards of damages and/or costs which are covered by the Congregation’s insurers.
“Apart from the express purpose of the Fund described above, the Fund belongs to the Medical Missionaries of Mary and is held in trust on their behalf.”
Associate professor of law at Dublin City University, James Gallen, explained the relevance of this fund.
He said: “The existence of ongoing claims and allegations of abuse in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital suggests that the agreement and fund may remain relevant where those claims include State institutions as potential defendants.
“It is legitimate for victims to advocate for and expect redress from State and church institutions to include support services and the Congregation’s potential part-funding of any future public inquiry should form part of a holistic assessment of congregational and State responsibility for a justice response to these allegations.”
He said that this is not the first time that a religious order has expressed dissatisfaction with a redress scheme.
“In the past, the most public indemnity agreement concerned the contribution of religious organisations to funding the Residential Institutions Redress Board. While some orders subsequently expressed dissatisfaction with the nature and operation of that redress scheme, to my knowledge none sought to withdraw their contribution.”
He added that the existence of the agreement “indicates awareness of the allegations by both the congregation and the State in 1997, at a minimum, and an awareness, if not acceptance, of potential legal liability on behalf of both church and State institutions”.
This ‘sends the wrong message’ to victims
Gerard Murray was just four years old when he says he was sexually abused by Shine.
He claims he was sexually assaulted when he attended the surgeon’s private practice on Peter Street, Drogheda, in relation to a hernia issue.
He says that while he was only four years of age, he knew at the time that something was wrong and this was not part of a standard medical examination.
He describes the sexual assault he allegedly suffered at Shine’s hands as “really, really painful”, recalling how the warped medic whispered from behind him during the attack: “It won’t be long.”
Mr Murray says that Shine’s sex crimes were widely known and there had been a cover-up by the Catholic Church and State.
Now he says that an attempt by the Medical Missionaries of Mary to withdraw funds that were previously set aside for victims is “absolutely disgraceful” and “disgusting”.
Gerard said that it “sends the wrong message” to victims who have chosen to come forward and report the abuse later in life.
For the victims, civil cases are the “only way that we will get some sort of justice because we won’t get it in the criminal courts”.
Shine’s name has long been associated with legal battles about the many allegations against him.
He was first accused of abuse by a whistleblower in 1995 and charged with indecent assault in 1996.
His legal tactics delayed any trial relating to those charges from starting until 2003, when he was 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”.
Lawyer Diarmuid Brecknell of Phoenix Law is representing Mr Murray and a number of other claimants in their fight for a public inquiry to establish facts around the case.
He said that the creation of such a fund in the first instance suggests that the religious order and the State “were aware of allegations and aware that they had substance”.
“This must be dealt with through a full commission of investigation.”
Brecknell said that he hopes the new government will help “get truth and justice for the victims of Michael Shine.”