Victims file over 20 new damages claims against convicted paedophile Michael Shine

After his sentencing in 2017, the former surgeon was accused by hundreds more former patients who alleged that he had groped them during medical examinations at the Lourdes hospital and at Shine’s private clinic between 1964 and his retirement in 1995

Michael Shine, one of the country’s most prolific paedophiles accused of abusing hundreds of boys, was convicted criminally twice for assaults perpetrated on seven teenagers with that offending having occurred on dates between 1971 and 1992. File photo: Collins Courts

Convicted paedophile Michael Shine is facing more than 20 new damages suits from victims in the High Court after a series of cases were lodged in recent days.

The former surgeon has been named as defendant in a series of cases, with six actions filed with the court on Monday by south Dublin legal practice Pearse Mehigan and Partners.

It's understood that the various actions relate directly to victims of Shine seeking damages for the abuse they suffered from both Shine and the Medical Missionaries of Mary, which administered the Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda, Co Louth, at the time of the offending.

Shine, one of the country’s most prolific paedophiles accused of abusing hundreds of boys, was convicted criminally twice for assaults perpetrated on seven teenagers with that offending having occurred on dates between 1971 and 1992.

At his initial sentencing hearing in 2017, when asked if Shine accepted his guilt, his defence counsel Hugh Hartnett SC said: “Well, he has been convicted."

He was subsequently accused by hundreds more former patients who alleged that he had groped them during medical examinations at the Lourdes hospital and at Shine’s private clinic between 1964 and his retirement in 1995.

However, no further criminal complaints have been pursued by the Director of Public Prosecutions against the now 93-year-old former doctor, with the DPP declining to prosecute 25 additional criminal complaints in late 2022.

Shine himself, suffering from severe angina, was eventually released from prison in February of that year having served roughly three years on the back of his separate convictions.

Hundreds of civil cases have been settled against the Medical Missionaries of Mary — which ceded control of the Lourdes Hospital to the HSE in 1997 — regarding Shine’s actions since the first such case was brought against him in 2012.

Inquiry

Last year, then Taoiseach Simon Harris said the Government would “reflect” on calls from victims of Shine for a full public inquiry into how his abuses were able to continue unchecked for decades.

At the time, Mr Harris said Shine “is a vile paedophile, a prolific abuser who has brought pain and misery to many” adding that the victims calling for an inquiry had "spoken with courage and in a vivid manner and I want to thank them for that”.

“I think their intervention is really important,” he said.

Last summer the minister for h ealth, Jennifer Carroll McNeill, wrote to victims of Shine to say she was working to deliver “an appropriate and bespoke response” to their requests for an inquiry.

“I am committed to engaging with my Government colleagues to identify an appropriate and bespoke response to the issues raised by and the needs identified by Dignity4Patients (the advocacy group which had written to the minister requesting a commission of investigation into Shine) on behalf of the victims and survivors of Michael Shine,” she said.

To date, no inquiry has been forthcoming.

Shine, who was struck off the medical register in 2008, still reportedly lives in Dublin. Earlier this year, in an interview with The Journal, the former consultant expressed no remorse for his crimes, arguing that all of the allegations were “lies", and suggested that those taking civil claims against him for his alleged abuse are financially motivated.