THERE ARE FRESH calls for an investigation into allegations that paedophile Michael Shine abused children in an orphanage in Drogheda, County Louth.
Two men have come forward, separately but in recent weeks, to claim that they were sexually assaulted by the former surgeon while growing up in the institution run by the Daughters of Charity nuns.
One man alleges that he was assaulted at least twice in the early 1980s, while the other claims that he was abused multiple times during the late 1970s and early 1980s.
A statement prepared during a meeting with victim support and advocacy organisation Dignity4Patients records in detail the account of one of the men.
This document has been seen by The Journal and the man consented to its contents being reported on, under the condition of anonymity.
The statement will also be included in a dossier that is currently being prepared by the organisation for Minister for Justice Helen McEntee and all political party leaders as part of a campaign for a Commission of Investigation.
When asked if the Daughters of Charity would participate in such an inquiry should one be established, a spokesperson for the organisation said, “The establishment of a Commission of Investigation into any matter is a complex process and involves the consideration of many factors on the basis of detailed information.
“The Daughters of Charity does not have sufficient information in respect of this particular matter to allow it to provide any meaningful comment at this time in relation to any proposed Commission of Investigation.”
One of the alleged victims entered the orphanage in 1976 when he became a ward of the state. He remained there for 15 years and said that during that time he had “no particular contact with my family”.
He claims that when he was aged seven or eight he was brought into a separate part of the convent building, where the children were ordinarily not allowed to go, to meet Shine. He says he was sexually abused on two occasions in the early 1980s.
“I remember him arriving in Fair Street and being led down into the Convent. This was a different section of the orphanage. It was unusual to be brought down there.”
He said that he remembers “stripping and being touched” on two separate occasions, and added that it is possible that there were more assaults.
The now-disgraced doctor worked as a senior registrar and later a consultant at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda between 1964 and 1995. During this time he also operated a private surgery on Fair Street, the same road as the orphanage was located.
The man said that he went to Gardaí around 10 or 15 years ago and made a statement about the abuse he allegedly suffered at the hands of Shine.
He claimed that the garda that interviewed him told him that he should personally get in contact with one of the nuns from the orphanage and ask her to disclose what she knew about Shine, but the man was not willing to do this and “the case went nowhere after that”.
Victims are now seeking a full investigation into the matter.
But the man also insists that the orphanage “wasn’t all bad”. He notes that he was “fed, watered and had a roof over my head”.
When asked about the allegations, the Daughters of Charity said: “It appears this matter is the subject of a complaint to An Garda Síochána. As such, it would be entirely inappropriate to make any comment at this time.”
With regard to dealing with the trauma in adulthood, the man described himself as being “notorious for sweeping things under the carpet”.
He said he “bottled it”, but he is now seeing a psychotherapist and “it is very difficult”.
He described Fair Street as being a main artery in the town.
I have to go through it a million times and it rehashes. I can’t avoid it. I get flashbacks.”
Shine was first accused of abuse by a whistleblower in 1995 and charged with indecent assault in 1996. Legal issues 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”.
In November 2017, guilty verdicts on three counts of assaulting two teenage patients on dates between 1974 and 1976 were handed down by a jury. However, he was granted bail pending an appeal against the conviction.
Shine was eventually jailed for four years in 2019 following a separate case for abusing seven boys in his care over a period of three decades and was released in February 2022 after serving three years.
Since then, he has lived in Dublin 4.
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