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A MAN WHO suffered massive burns during a bomb attack during the Troubles has said that he missed out on vital medical treatment after he “did a runner” because he was terrified that he would be sexually abused for a second time by paedophile surgeon Michael Shine.
Dundalk-born musician Peter O’Connor was a 19-year-old student when he was caught up in the loyalist bombing in Dundalk in 1975, during which two people lost their lives and 20 people were injured.
He suffered 93% burns to his body after he stayed behind to help another man, as he recalls “the place burned down around us”. The other man, Hugh Watters, died in Peter’s arms.
But he has now alleged that just two months before the atrocity he was sexually abused by Michael Shine during an outpatient appointment when he was being treated for a separate medical condition.
Peter has been a part of the campaign for justice for victims of Michael Shine for more than 15 years, but has today decided to waive his anonymity for the first time and share his story as he and other alleged victims call on the Minister for Justice to establish a Commission of Investigation.
Peter was treated at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda in October 1975 and says he was sexually assaulted by Michael Shine during an appointment in an outpatients unit.
The DPP did not charge Shine on foot of Peter’s statement but, just like in the case of 200 other victims, he was awarded redress during civil proceedings.
He said that as far back as the late 1960s, “the dogs in the street knew” about Shine’s alleged crimes.
Peter insists that there are questions that need to be answered and he is calling for a Commission of Investigation to be set up.
During an interview with The Journal today, he opened up about the 1976 bombing.
Following the blast, Peter was rushed to hospital in Dundalk but was subsequently conveyed to Dr Stephen’s Hospital in Dublin, which had a dedicated burns unit at that time.
He had a long road to recovery, during which plastic surgeons had to “completely rebuild” his face. He suffered devastating burns to all of his body except his groin and the inner part of his right foot.
In early 1976 he was visited Michael Shine, who drove from Drogheda to Dublin to visit him.
“He (Shine) came into the room alone at first, but was followed by a very flustered Matron. She seemed a bit unnerved that this great man had come to visit.
“There was a conversation going on around me about my medical treatment, but I wasn’t involved in it. It was almost as if I was a third party to it.
“They were making arrangements for me to be taken back to the Lourdes once I could leave the burns unit in Dr Stephen’s (Hospital).”
Peter was terrified at the prospect of being under Shine’s care once again.
“I did a runner. I went west and hid out in Miltown Malbay. Of course I had contact with my parents and I was encouraged to go back, but I wouldn’t.”
He was so afraid of being assaulted again that he did not receive the medical treatment that he required.
“It is because of Shine that I never got the post plastic surgery care that I needed, or the trauma care either.”
Peter said that he believes that there are many other patients who never got the medical treatment that they required because they feared returning to Our Lady Of Lourdes Hospital.
Five years ago, Peter was one of 11 survivors of the Troubles who performed in the ‘Blood Red Lines’ play.
During the performance he delivered a monologue, during which he told the captivated audience that he had “left Ireland as quickly as I could” because the country is “no place for survivors”. He lived abroad for many years after the bombing.
All those who watched the play, which was shown at An Táin Arts Centre in Dundalk, believed that he was talking about his experience as a survivor of the Troubles. However, he has today revealed that he was privately referring to his experience as a victim of sexual abuse as well.
Lawyer for the victims Diarmuid Brecknell said that he was at the play and this revelation is “absolutely devastating”.
“He tells his story in a courageous and brave manner,” he said. “To today find out that he was also a victim of Michael Shine is absolutely devastating.
“He has again taken the very courageous step in coming forward and telling another harrowing story from his lifetime, in the search of justice. Every day we are hearing more shocking stories of the grief and pain Shine inflicted on the people who trusted him the most.
“It is right that the Minister of Justice and the Government as a whole; listen to the victims, hear their story and allow them a route to justice through a public inquiry.”
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Why use tax money to bail them out? If they can’t survive on their ownet then go bust.
@John Fagan: Would you let public libraries ‘go bust’ too?
@Brendan O’Brien: libraries serve a purpose.
@Michael o connor: So does a public broadcaster that doesn’t need to make a profit.
@Brendan O’Brien: Indeed, a propaganda wing for the government with sports supplement alongside. I fail to see how, in this day and age, a public broadcaster relying on involuntary donations is necessary.
@Brendan O’Brien: public libraries are not in existence to make profit public libraries don’t charge for services public libraries provide a service to the public for free whilst RTE provides a service at a cost to the public and RTE is there to make profit.
@Brendan O’Brien: @Brendan O’Brien: But RTE head staff only want a massive wage even at the expense of RTE. If they don’t care about RTE but only the wage they get, then they should work for the wages and not on a tax that is looking crazy when you see what happens in other countries. As the TV licence is a rare tax in the world today, why do we have it with paid advertising and extra cash to prop RTE. The problem with RTE is bad financial management, too many on wages they don’t deserve, full stop. I doubt libraries are on the wages of RTE staff.
@John Fagan: sure there’s no accountability they can run it into the ground again sure what’s the worst will happen. Whoever causes it can head off into the sunset with lump sum and pension it’s the job of a lifetime nothing whatsoever to worry about if it goes wrong sod it.
@Brendan O’Brien: @Brendan O’Brien: The libraries do not throw commercials at your face every 2 minutes
@Michael o connor: Agree Agree Agree. Public libraries are more than a building that holds books. In a lot of areas they are a social hub for young and old alike. Students can go and study in peace and quiet , elderly folk use it to meet their pals, they run programmes for the toddlers, they are an information point for local activities and so much more. They are staffed by public servants who don’t have a barter account , who do get expense accounts and who, in the last year or so, have faced extreme harassment verbal and physical from some sections of our great public.
@Don Denar: Neither does RTE. Gross exaggeration to make your point kinda makes your point, well, pointless.
@John Fagan: Why use tax payers money to pay The Lucky Bertie and his cronies Wheelbarrow Pensions.
@John Fagan: Any idea who the latest 400k exit package is for.
@Brendan O’Brien: we are not forced to pay for public libraries twice like are with rte. If it can’t remain open on its own then let it close
@Ger Whelan: And how are they funded? Tax is a forced payment and it’s used to fund everything, the TV license is a tax on an item of luxury and before you head off on a rant a TV isn’t necessary to live.
@Jp Cleary: Guess
It’s time to close them doors
@Adrian Joyce: 100%. And if you pay the TV licence you need your head examined.
@Ted Daly: I’m really enjoying the Euro’s on RTE. Paid for by my tv licence fee. I think €13.33 a month is brilliant value. No, I’m not a troll
@Philip Gallagher: but there’s someone, not a million miles away, that you’re paying for aswell.
@Philip Gallagher: I’m happy you’re enjoying what you paid for. Not sure RTE extorting myself and hundreds of thousands of others for your viewing pleasure is worth it though.
@Philip Gallagher: I’m watching it on bbc and itv for free with 5.1 Dolby digital and far better commentary and punditry. Also no ads on bbc.
Close it down. It’s a joke. Court threats for non payment of the licence fee but zero accountability for the likes of lying Dee Forbes… Pity the rest of us can’t feign sickness to get out of our responsibilities and let’s not even start looking at what kind of pension payments these hacks get. An absolute clusterfu€k of an organisation.
@Greg Power:
So you want to commercialise the news coverage like in the US… How is that working out?
We need to have proper News sources and proper investigative journalism, that is expensive and does yield a profit but it is vital for a functioning democracy
@Jack Dermody: because RTE have always been unbiased, yeah?
@nck: yeah!
@nck: The fact that it doesn’t embody your bias (as you would like it to) doesn’t mean that it’s not unbiased.
@Declan Murphy: have they though? How so?
@Brendan O’Brien: it doesn’t mean that it’s NOT unbiased either ;)
@nck: That is what I said.
@Brendan O’Brien: thought what I meant was obvious, but for clarification:
Whether I agree with what RTE are saying or not is entirely irrelevant to whether they have bias or not. RTE have shown on quite a lot of occasions to be more than happy to take a stance one way or the other on issues as opposed to simply presenting the facts.
@nck: You accidentally said the opposite of what you meant. It happens.
All responsible broadcasters have certain principles (e.g. respect, dignity) and ‘take a stance’ accordingly. I don’t see RTE doing anything other than that. Your claim that it is a government propaganda wing is way off the mark.
@Brendan O’Brien: Well said!
@Greg Power: I’d imagine the pension that they receive is related to their contributions and their employers contributions like everyone else that has a private pension . Many of these employees would be on a standard salary it’s only the “names” that are on a ridiculously high salary but sure it suits the agenda to tar everyone with the same brush. However allocating €50 million for 400 redundancies is crazy, equating to €125000 a head.
@Brendan O’Brien: it really isn’t. “taking a stance” at all is bias. A responsible broadcaster presents the facts and allows their viewers to draw their own stance from it without moralising based on their own “principles”.
@Brendan O’Brien: And if they fail to inform us of certain things that we have a right to know, and they had a duty to?
RTE have always protected certain politicians and political parties.
Which has lead to the continuance of corruption and other misdeeds, rather than rooting it out.
@Greg Power: court threats? No correct me but it’s court summons and jail time -fact your right Dee Forbes and the likes gets/got away unbelievable no accountability this country gets me so mad!
@Brendan O’Brien: the fact that it DOES embody your bias suits you well, so we should just move on, nothing to see here
@Greg Power: Opus Dea Ireland at it again, lets make it all worse and then i’ll feel better. Maybe we could offer our media sytems to the Murdochs and ‘trust’ them to have our best interests.
If the RTE player requires sign in with a TV license number I wonder how much audiences will plummet both from the inconvenience and not having a license.
@Rochelle Hart: probably to start the process charging for certain programs. That’s usually how it starts.
@Rochelle Hart: isn’t this the point. Won’t it give a better indication of who is actually watching and paying?
@Rochelle Hart: If they fix it and drag it into 2024 it could be a good service very useful for sports coverage, the internet in Ireland is like Bratislavan style in the 1980s.
They Reap what they sow. The TV Tax has to go too! ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! Subscription Only! YOU want it, YOU pay for it!
@Mick Hanna: Yeah! Privatise everything!
@Nick Vasilakis: sounds good
@Nick Vasilakis: No.
But RTE does not fullfill the function of a Public Service Broadcaster.
As it does not, there is no need for a licence fee.
@Nick Vasilakis: Subscription IS NOT Privatisation!
@nck: it’s already 50% private.
Any company that uses the A word (Agile) generally is anything but…just following the corporate herd with meaningless old clichés
” plunged into crisis after understating the fees of star presenter tubridy ” = caught rotten telling lies whilst sneakily overpaying a greedy already overpayed low talent presenter… I feel sorry for the workers in rte losing their jobs though
Looks like the 400 staff are being made pay for the mistakes and greed of a few . Doesn’t seem fair imo
@Liam Lehane: Ah, you needn’t shed too many tears.
These have been well cossetted over the years.
Cossetted by fees from those much less well off.
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: they are on a wage. Nobody is cosseting them
@Liam Lehane: The Irish will only be pleased when the unemployment figures rise. We’re a horrid lot really.
They want to charge people to stream as well as pay for a TV licence..can’t see that working tbh..I’d say RTE can s
ay good bye to themselves..do honestly see o a ps trying to sign in to watchRTE..good luck with that.
And yet they are keeping 2FM, which serves no purpose and just replicates what numerous other commercial stations are doing…
@ciaran lohan: I think that you’ll see that the commercial stations are following RTE 2′s format. Just look at the early morning slots , every station has a couple of presenters who think they’re comedians. Next up a chat show with an opinionated presenter followed by easy afternoon listening rounded off by drivetime.
Some Today BBC Radio 4 presenters paid less than Joe Duffy who’s show is less than half the length? Why should people be expected to pay a licence fee when RTE have ad revenue as well – unlike BBC – and who makes the better programmes???
Rte player gaa go both useless,out on sat to watch derry v mayo kept stopping
@Ciaran Goggins: agree with the player but find gaago runs very well for me . Dod have any stops watching the match
@Ciaran Goggins: Don’t know about GAAGo, but I have to say, I find the RTE Player way better than it was, particularly in the last 6 months or so, I actually use it more than I ever did, no buffering, only annoying thing is not being able to skip adverts, but I reckon they’ll never allow that. In general, if a streaming service is not working properly, it is almost always down to poor broadband signal.
Having to sign in to stream is definitely a precursor to whatever model is going to replace the TV licence.
Let’s hope the “right” people leave as part of the redundancy program and that the best people remain with RTE. Always difficult to manage these programs, particularly when they are voluntary. Good luck to all. The working atmosphere at RTE must be pretty horrendous these days
Take some of the money back from the overpaid parasites working there
@Marc Power: dee forbes in still in early stages of full recovery from the desperate ordeal she endured on the hefty lump sum and pension.
who needs RTE when you have Netflix, and online news portals.
There is nothing RTE can offer.
Nice earner if you happen to have long service and are 60+. Rte just keeps giving, woohoo.
Is this a joke or what? A 20 million bailout, enough is enough it’s not fit for purpose. It’s great the way the public isn’t asked whether they’d agree with the bailout, not a hope. I hope dee forbes is fully de-stressed after the ordeal and comfortable on the lump sum and pension while people struggling week to week have to fund this crap. What a joke this country is becoming,what’s to say they won’t run it into the ground again with overspends and garbage, there’s no accountability at all.
explains why presenters are jumping ship that or they have been pushed. A Right Titanic Exit!
Sign in to watch the player ? Does this mean we don’t have to watch 5 minutes of adverts anymore ?
A fcuking million then for the report when the dog’s on the street knew the problem.
@Malachy Cox: ah no,we like to be thorough in solidarity and transparency as mehole does say ‘ lessons learned’
Didn’t they try this already
Yikes he’s getting serious!
Well isn’t that what people want. Total revamp of RTE.?
@John Nolan: Nah!
People want RTE to stand on its own feet. To go to a subscription service.
If it cannot, then let it go.
We are well rid of this mouthpiece for the government of the day, and their staff who believe we were put on this Earth to keep them in the manner to which they have become accustomed.
@John Nolan: would you describe this as a total revamp?
Why on earth don’t they get more money from advertising? For example, Morning Ireland is the most listened to radio programme, why isn’t their a sponsor for this? If you listen closely to the ads they do have, a considerable amount of them are promos advertising other RTE shows, ads for appeals/charities, ads with RTE supporting the Arts. None of these bring in any money. Yet RTE take the easy option of getting us to pay a high TV license and bailouts from the Government (us again). And it goes without saying that the top “stars” are grossly overpaid. Confidence in RTE has taken a massive hit lately, they need major changes to get that back.
@Joseph Fitzgibbon: Much sooner listen to RTE radio as it is than that Newstalk and it’s constant promoting of its non existent so called cash machine every 15 minutes not to mention most of their unbearable presenters.
@Leonard Barry: I have to agree with you 100% on this cash machine. It’s highly irresponsible and they also have a lot of sports programmes/segments sponsored by betting companies.
From my perspective I don’t think the service is worth paying. I’m sure they will continue to push irrelevant mo ro nic ads as well.
Public Broadcasting needs protecting. Good to see improvements on the way.
@Jack Hayes: For who?
@Jack Hayes: why?
Fair city, seven days a week. Yup I said
Move it out to ballymount!
They’re going to outsource the shows so the people working on the shows can get paid more than the caps. :/
This workaround should be closed.
Won’t change the aloof attitudes of those at the top table.
All the talk about the need for Public Service Broadcasting to counter Misinformation, when the Public Service Broadcaster itself Misinformed & Misled the Licence Fee Holders & Taxpayers on salaries & the corrupt Financial Irregularities, along with the myriad of other abuses from Exit packages to Car Allowances. Nobody has been held accountable, nobody arrested, no Garda or Revenue raids, no fraud investigation, still no answers on many issues, just mega Pension payouts, mega Exit Packages with Non Disclosure Agreements, NOTHING HAS CHANGED ! Bakhurst is not delivering any major changes & we still don’t know the identity or details of the €400K Exit Package he was arranging under his watch.
RTE should be sold off to the private market, no more money from the State.
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