MINISTER FOR HEALTH Jennifer Carroll MacNeill has tonight confirmed that she will meet with victims of paedophile Michael Shine.
This announcement comes after an intense campaign by victims for a sit-down meeting with Government Ministers to discuss their calls for a public inquiry to examine all matters surrounding the prolific sex abuse case.
In a statement issued tonight, 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.”
Last August a number of men spoke publicly about the abuse for the first time in a series of in-depth interviews.
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 whistleblower 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”.