{"id":552718,"date":"2026-07-16T13:13:25","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T13:13:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/552718\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T13:13:25","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T13:13:25","slug":"govt-agrees-to-investigation-into-paedophile-shine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/552718\/","title":{"rendered":"Govt agrees to investigation into paedophile Shine"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Government has agreed to set up a Commission of Investigation into the activities of prolific paedophile Michael Shine.<\/p>\n

Shine was a surgeon at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda over four decades from 1964 to 1995 and he also had a private practice.<\/p>\n

He was convicted in 2017 and 2019 of abuse of a number of boys.<\/p>\n

A report by Senior Counsel Lorcan Staines, published today, has recommended the immediate establishment of a Commission of Investigation to examine Shine’s activities and the response of various authorities.<\/p>\n

More than 400 victims and survivors have been identified.<\/p>\n

Read the report in full here<\/a><\/p>\n

In a statement, Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll McNeill said her department will work on drafting the terms of reference for the inquiry.<\/p>\n

“I want to acknowledge the bravery of the individuals who came forward to share their lived experience with the facilitator. It is clear that their experiences have shaped the report and its recommendations,” the minister said.<\/p>\n

“I would like to express my thanks to Mr Lorcan Staines for the victim centred engagement he has had with the victims and survivors.<\/p>\n

“I would also like to thank Dignity4Patients for their collaboration with Mr Staines throughout the process.”<\/p>\n

Victims ‘downbeat’
\n\"\"
\nMichael Shine was convicted in 2017 and 2019 of abuse of a number of boys<\/p>\n

Mr Staines revealed that many of the victims he spoke to expected little to come of his investigation.<\/p>\n

He said that all were damaged, some severely.<\/p>\n

One man said that “time is not a healer”, while others “had even retained their hospital appointment cards from the date that they say they were abused”.<\/p>\n

“The expectations of those I met were notably low,” Mr Staines wrote.<\/p>\n

“Many were downbeat as to what, if anything, would now happen.<\/p>\n

“There was little confidence that the system or that the State would ‘do right’ by them.<\/p>\n

“That lack of confidence did not arise in a vacuum.<\/p>\n

“Many described having been profoundly let down over a long period.”<\/p>\n

Victims feel ‘listened to’ following report<\/p>\n

Victims and survivors of Shine said they feel “listened to” and “believed” following the publication of the report.<\/p>\n

In a statement, CEO of Dignity4Patients Adriene Reilly said they are “very pleased that this has happened today”.<\/p>\n

“Finally there is something on the record going towards full vindication of all the victims and survivors of convicted sexual offender Michael Shine.<\/p>\n

“Many have waited for this moment for over 30 years. Many living in silence much longer,” she said.<\/p>\n

Helplines<\/p>\n

If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, you can find organisations to help on rte.ie\/helplines.<\/a><\/p>\n

Or you can contact the Dignity 4 Patients helpline on 086 165 4111 and 041 984 3730. It is available Monday to Thursday from 10am until 4am.<\/p>\n

The Dublin Rape Crisis Centre can be called on 1800 778 888.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Government has agreed to set up a Commission of Investigation into the activities of prolific paedophile Michael…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":484442,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-552718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=552718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552718\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/484442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=552718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=552718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=552718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}