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THE FIRST DÁIL debate following the launching of a scoping exercise into the abuse perpetrated by paedophile surgeon Michael Shine heard of the impact of his abuse on survivors.
Over 400 men have come forward as victims of Shine, with the abuse thought to have spread across four decades.
The extensive sexual abuse is alleged to have occurred between the 1960s and 1990s while Shine was working as a surgeon at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda, as well as in his private practice in the Co Louth town.
In 2017, Shine was found guilty by a jury of the sexual abuse of two boys.
He was jailed in 2019 for a period of four years following a separate case for abusing seven boys in his care over a period of three decades. He served three years in prison.
Now aged in his 90s, he lives in Dublin. In May 2025, he spoke to The Journal for a period of 25 minutes at his Dublin 4 apartment and denied all allegations, claiming the hundreds of men accusing him of abuse are motivated by money.
In the Dáil today, health minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill outlined the current status of the scoping exercise.
Having commenced on 3 March of this year, it will run for up to 16 weeks, conducted by senior counsel Lorcan Staines. Carroll MacNeill stressed there will be extensive engagement with the group representing Shine’s survivors, Dignity4Patients, as well as its legal representative.
Dignity4Patients will have the support of “expert advisors” throughout this scoping exercise.
Survivor Cianan Murray said he feels “very positive” for the first time in years with the launch of the exercise.
TDs then debated the scoping exercise, with calls issued that a public inquiry should follow the initial scoping exercise.
Sinn Féin TD Joanna Byrne, who represents Louth, where the vast majority of Shine’s abuse was carried out, described the sex offender as “the most prolific paedophile in Europe” in her Dáil contribution.
“I know how important the support provided by Dignity4Patients is. The people of Drogheda and beyond rightly view this as a lifeline,” Byrne said.
She said the scoping exercise is an important and welcome step, but it has also “exposed the lack of capacity to support victims and survivors”.
“It’s mind-boggling that they [Dignity4Patients] haven’t been provided with funding for an advocacy worker, despite submitting a business case for this and particularly when they’ve supported over 400 vulnerable people and brave survivors with only two advocacy team members,” she said.
Ged Nash, a Labour TD for Co Louth, said many of Shine’s victims are his friends and peers that he grew up with.
“The ghost of Michael Shine hangs over my home town,” he said.
“That possibly one of Europe’s most prolific sex offenders, abusers, managed to get away with impunity with what he did over many, many decades, working in one of the most substantial, largest public hospitals in our country, requires the kind of statutory investigation that successive governments have not been of a mind to grant.”
Junior health minister Kieran O’Donnell, who stayed to listen to the statements in the stead of Carrol MacNeill, who left after reading her statement to attend a cabinet meeting, told TDs that the health minister would be looking back over the contributions.
He thanked the deputies for their statements and said the scoping exercise “is a partnership with Dignity4Patients, more particularly the people they represent, the victims and survivors of Michael Shine.”
Support is available. Dignity4Patients is a patient support, information and advocacy organisation for people who have experienced sexual abuse, you can call 041 – 9843730, text 0861654111 or email support@dignity4patients.org from Monday to Thursday, 10am – 4pm. Out of hours, call 1800 778 888.
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