A PRIVATE LAW firm is representing the State in an independent review to determine whether a congregation of nuns can take back money set aside to deal with sex abuse claims.
The Department of Health confirmed that Comyn Kelleher Tobin is representing it and the HSE as they engage with an unnamed independent expert.
The Medical Missionaries of Mary are trying to withdraw money from a fund intended to indemnify the State against legal cases taken by victims of disgraced doctor Michael Shine.
The Congregation ran the Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda where Shine worked as a surgeon for decades and where many of the alleged incidents of abuse took place.
A schedule of records obtained on foot of a Freedom of Information request shows that 63 emails were sent or received by the Department of Health over the past year in relation to the Indemnity Agreement.
The Department refused to release the contents of the correspondence, insisting that it “would disclose confidential communications between the Department and our legal advisor and other parties and their legal advisor”.
Victims say that they appreciate that the review is ongoing, but the Department should still be able to give them some basic details about how the process is being conducted.
Ian Armstrong said that he and other victims are appealing for “more transparency”.
“We have had no communication from the Department of Health, no communication whatsoever,” he said.
CEO of the support and advocacy organisation Dignity4Patients Adrienne Reilly said that the lack of communication with victims demonstrates that the State has failed to deliver its promise of a victim-centred approach to dealing with the Shine case.
Last August, after a number of victims spoke publicly for the first time, Tanaiste (then-Taoiseach) Simon Harris said: “We need to actually help these people get the answers, and we need to do it in a victim, survivor-centred way.
“So what I want them to know is that I hear them, that I do want government to engage with them, but I also want that engagement to be useful from their point of view.”
The Department of Health also confirmed to The Journal this week that the independent expert will be paid “in accordance with the provisions of the deed”.
The 1997 Agreement stipulated that fees and expenses paid to the independent expert “shall be shared equally between the Congregation and the Minister”.
Ian Armstrong said that he felt it was “very odd” that the nuns were paying half of the cost of a report that could decide if they can withdraw the funds themselves.
Hundreds of men claim that they were abused by Shine over decades while he worked at the hospital and operated a private practice in the Louth town.
The hospital, established in 1939, was owned and run by the nuns until 1997 when it was sold to the North Eastern Health Board for IR£5.5 million.
The day before the purchase was announced by the then-Health Minister Michael Noonan, the Medical Missionaries of Mary signed a Deed of Indemnity and Charge.