To date 377 men have come forward with allegations of historic abuse against Shine.
Ten additional men have come forward with allegations since the Dignity4Patients group met with the Taoiseach on 16 April.
In the interview with journalist Saoirse McGarrigle for The Journal – his first ever – the former surgeon denied the allegations against him.
Adrienne Reilly, the CEO of the Dignity4Patients group, today told The Journal that Shine was competent enough to conduct an interview, in which he said his accusers were “hoping for money”, and therefore he is competent enough to face a garda interview.
Reilly said that victims are calling on gardaí to immediately interview Shine and for a file to be sent for the DPP’s consideration.
She said the DPP is “using” the Court of Appeal ruling to not prosecute cases.
“If a journalist can go to his door and sit down with him for 25 minutes and have a coherent conversation, why is it that no one else can get to him?” she asked.
“We’ve spoken to senior counsel and it is their view and our view that there is a case of serious miscarriage of justice to be made against the DPP here,” Reilly added.
She also said that a move from Government is expected in terms of an inquiry into how Shine was allowed to offend for so long within public institutions being announced in the next month.
Shine was based at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda, where he operated a private practice in the Co Louth town. The incidents of abuse that 371 men say occurred when they were boys started in the 1960s and continued through to the 1990s.
Though hundreds of men have come forward with allegations, Shine was only ever convicted for crimes against just nine boys.
He was jailed for four years in 2019 following a separate case for abusing seven boys who were in his care over the course of three decades.
There have been renewed calls for a Commission of Investigation to be established in order to establish why it took tens of years for him to face conviction.
In the last court proceedings against Shine, the Court of Appeal ruled that another trial should not be held due to “cumulative factors” including his health and age, as well as a “misstep” by the DPP between 2017 and 2019 which meant the case was in a “wholly exceptional category where it would be unjust to put the appellant on trial”.
Michael Shine’s lawyers had argued that the DPP delayed in informing him that there were new cases pending against him for two years. The DPP had intended to send a letter to his solicitors, but it wasn’t sent.
Shine himself made a point of his age in his interview with McGarrigle, which took place at his kitchen table in his Dublin home, repeatedly stating: “I’m an old man, 92 years old. I’m 92 years old. I’m retired 30 years. It’s 30 years since I saw a patient”.
He claimed that the allegations against him “did not happen”, and that he only remembered one victim who has spoken out publicly, further claiming, “I cured him”.
He also claimed that there was always a nurse present while he treated boys, which the Dignity4Patients group has firmly contested, based on the experience and testimonial of victims.
The support group has said that allegations against Shine have been “proven in court”.