A GROUP CALLING for a public inquiry into one of Ireland’s most prolific paedophiles, Michael Shine, are breaking their silence for the first time today in a series of exclusive, in-depth interviews with The Journal.
Hundreds of men claim that they were abused by the former surgeon, now 93, over decades, but in 2024, he is a free man after serving just three years in prison.
Today, a leading human rights law firm has announced that it is acting for the group seeking a Commission of Investigation to probe claims that health and religious authorities failed to stop the abuse.
One of the men believes Shine’s child sexual abuse was a ‘well-known, open secret’ in the community.
Everybody knew. Growing up, I played football and they used to say ‘don’t hurt your leg, or you’ll be going up to Shine’.”
The victims’ group is launching a legal campaign for the full truth behind one of Ireland’s biggest child sex abuse scandals.
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”.
Those many alleged victims who did not see successful prosecutions say that the Government has now left them with no choice but to waive their anonymity, in a desperate plea to be heard.
Many of Shine’s victims were treated by him at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda, Co Louth, where he 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.
Gerard Murray, 53, says that a public inquiry is “the only way I can ever get justice”.
He told The Journal he was sexually abused by Shine when he was just four years old in 1974 and a decade later, he was also sexually assaulted at school by a Christian Brother.
He turned to drink and drugs to numb the pain and ended up homeless for a time.
Gerard has been sober for more than 25 years, but is still dealing with the trauma.
“I don’t think I can ever come to terms with what’s happened,” the Drogheda man says today.
“I don’t have peace. I don’t have a sense of ease, a sense of justice. Until I get that, I don’t think I’ll ever stop.”
There have been repeated calls for a public inquiry into matters surrounding the Shine abuse case, but this is the first time that victims have secured legal representation.
Human rights lawyer Diarmuid Brecknell of Belfast-based Phoenix Law is acting for the men and has written to Minister for Justice Helen McEntee seeking an immediate meeting to discuss the case.
He insists that there needs to be a Commission of Investigation and lessons should be learned from this sex abuse scandal “to make sure that it doesn’t happen again”.
Brecknell was part of the legal team headed by solicitor Darragh Mackin, that represented the families of those killed in the Stardust tragedy, during the recent inquests.
It was during a ceremony to commemorate the 48 victims of the 1981 nightclub fire, that Brecknell approached McEntee to inform her that he would be contacting her about the Shine case.
The group seeking justice has also been closely following proceedings in the South East Commission and say that the success of victims in the case of jailed paedophile Bill Kenneally, in securing a State inquiry, has given them hope.
Larry Torris, 40, insists that a public inquiry into the events that surrounded Shine’s reign of terror is essential, because “we cannot hide from it anymore as a society”.
He believes that an inquiry will help people to understand the extent of the abuse and how much it has impacted the victims and their families.
Larry, originally from Dunleer, County Louth, says he was sexually abused by Shine while still groggy from general anaesthesia administered for an operation in 1994, just days after his 10th birthday.
Shine had been operating on children for more than 30 years by the time he is alleged to have assaulted him.
Larry continues to suffer flashbacks of the alleged abuse, including images of Shine’s white coat and the sound of his voice.
“The biggest part of it was being able to feel his hands…What I feel is him putting his finger inside of me.
“Part of it is that I was not fully conscious from the anaesthetic. It’s like my body is trying to wake up and it can’t. I’m trying to move, but I can’t.”
Known as a devout and religious man throughout the hospital, Shine was revered by those around him for the decades he worked there. Too revered, says Ian Armstrong.
Now 60, Ian claims that because Shine was a skilled doctor, his sex crimes were overlooked.
“Everyone stood up for him,” he recalled. “He was an idol in the town and he was really good. The next best surgeons were in Belfast, during the bombings. He was revered and, unfortunately, too revered.”
However, whistleblower nurse Bernadette Sullivan did report the abuse to hospital management in 1995.
Shine retired on a full pension that same year, having worked in Drogheda for 30 years.
At the conclusion of the 2003 trial at Dundalk Circuit Criminal Court, the Medical Missionaries of Mary, which ran the hospital at the time of the alleged offences, confirmed that there were a number of civil proceedings ongoing arising out of the offences.
To date, more than 200 victims have settled civil claims against the Medical Missionaries of Mary. Many of the men were instructed 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.
Shine wasn’t struck off the Irish Medical Council’s register until 2008, 13 years after the first allegation was made public. In 2009, retired High Court judge, T.C. Smyth, was appointed to lead an independent review of the case, but the report was sealed and never published.
In 2010, Bernadette Sullivan established and became director of the patient support and advocacy organisation, Dignity4Patients.
Today, almost 350 victims are attached to the group, but only nine of these men have had successful prosecutions in the criminal courts.
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.
After that February 2019 verdict, victim Patrick Cusack told the court Shine had handed him “a life sentence of pain, hurt, anguish and shame”. He was the only victim to waive their right to anonymity at the time.
Now, however, Ian Armstrong says that he is among the hundreds of victims who are “still angry at the system” after the DPP chose not to pursue charges in their cases following the 2021 Court of Appeal ruling.
While he was being treated by Shine for a hand injury between 1982 and 1983, he was forced to undress and expose his full body to the disgraced doctor.
“I didn’t know why I had to undress and why I had to be alone with him foaming at the mouth and his big eyes.”
He said that Shine spent so much time touching his private parts that he worried that maybe he had testicular cancer.
“I can’t get rid of that memory,” he added.
Lawyer Diarmuid Brecknell outlined why victims like Gerard Murray, Cianan Murray, Larry Torris and Ian Armstrong are demanding action.
“The victims are seeking a Commission of Investigation into, not just the actions of Michael Shine, but the failings of the public authorities and how that was allowed to go on, for such a period of time as it was.
“A Commission of Investigation allows society to learn from those failings. It isn’t about reinvestigating, re-prosecuting. It’s about learning how it was allowed to happen, the failings that allowed it to happen and learning from that to make sure that it doesn’t happen again.
“For these victims to finally be heard, for these victims to finally know that they were wronged, will help their healing process and will help the healing process of society.
“You can’t move forward. You can’t start properly dealing with trauma until you know the full truth and these patients perhaps don’t know the full truth of how they were wronged.”
CEO of Dignity4Patients, Adrienne Reilly, said that since Phoenix Law has come on board the victims have “a new lease of life” to keep fighting.
“We are delighted to have them on board in the pursuit of a Commission of Investigation for victims and survivors of Michael Shine. Phoenix Law has led on the Stardust Inquest and the Bill Kenneally inquiry (South East Commission).
“They have a history of legal success with non-recent abuse and State failures. They also have an acute understanding of victim-centred approaches to legal processes.”
The Medical Missionaries of Mary and Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital have been contacted for comment.
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