As the Government plans to hold a statutory investigation into sexual abuser and former hospital consultant Michael Shine, one can only think of the victims who have waited decades to be heard.
Shine worked in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda from 1964 until 1995.
In March 1995, a complaint of abuse was made against him. He went on leave and subsequently retired that October.
He was convicted in 2017 of sexual offences and in 2019 was convicted of assaulting seven boys between 1971 and 1992 for which he served three years in prison.
RM Block
But it is alleged his abuse was much more widespread. Described in the Dáil as the “most prolific paedophile in Europe”, Co Louth-based charity Dignity4Patients is now supporting 400 survivors of Shine’s alleged abuse.
Senior counsel Lorcan Staines, independent facilitator for the scoping exercise into the sex offender, published his final report on Thursday.
It sets out a clear recommendation for further State action. But it also illustrates just how devastating the actions taken – or, in many cases, not taken – have been for the victims and survivors.
Many of the men who have spoken publicly through the media in recent years have revealed significant mental health troubles, addiction challenges and relationship breakdowns due to the impact of their trauma.
[ Court refuses to release transcripts from trials of sex offender Michael ShineOpens in new window ]
The 75 who spoke with Staines were “grateful to have someone to listen to them” and, in many cases, they minimised the abuse they suffered.
“The damage done to these individuals was plain and still visible even following the passage of time. In many cases, it was severe,” the report said.
“One stated ‘time is not a healer’. Some had even retained their hospital appointment cards from the date that they say they were abused.”
According to the report, in some cases the damage was two-fold. When they went to receive healthcare they experienced abuse instead, meaning they suffered health problems from a lack of care in addition to the assault.
In some instances, brothers and fathers and sons all alleged they were abused by Shine, with some children being as young as four at the time.
It was widely known, according to the men, that Shine was perpetuating this alleged abuse. What so many of these men keep wondering though, is why didn’t anybody stop it?
“Concerns were raised in relation to virtually every body or organisation which had responsibility to deal with the alleged conduct, including the hospital staff and board, the North Eastern Health Board, the medical council, An Garda Síochána, the Director of Public Prosecutions, subsequent reviews, and the courts.”
He added that the “general view of victims” was that there had been a “series of failures from start to finish”.
“Those who spoke with me outlined serious dissatisfaction with the criminal justice system and the DPP, both in terms of the historic treatment of complaints, the delays within the system and the fact that no further cases have been prosecuted since 2021,” the report said.
The focus must now be on answering these questions: how did his conduct continue for so long without detection and why the steps that followed were “inadequate, mismanaged and poorly handled”.
Consequently, Staines said, many men were “downbeat as to what, if anything, would now happen”.
“There was little confidence that the system or that the State would ‘do right’ by them. That lack of confidence did not arise in a vacuum,” the report said.
“Many described having been profoundly let down over a long period by systems which they felt should have protected them. That sense of having been failed ran deep.”
The recommendation that this investigation starts “immediately” is the very least the State can do, given the decades of delays and unanswered questions.
The system let down these men before; there is an onus to make sure that doesn’t happen again.
