Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The first time I ever spoke in this House, I called for justice for the survivors of sexual abuse at the hands of the former surgeon Michael Shine. That was 12 years ago, and the survivors still await justice. Shine is the most prolific paedophile to have stalked the corridors of an Irish hospital. The number of boys he abused between the early 1960s and the 1990s is the hundreds. Many of them are friends and constituents of mine. Some are my age. It could have been me or any one of us.

Shine was imprisoned in 2019 for four years for the indecent assault of seven boys, but he was released early this year. The Court of Appeal ruled last year that a separate trial could not proceed due to his age, his health and the historical nature of the allegations before the court. Last August, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions indicated it would not pursue a series of additional cases. This news was utterly devastating for the survivors. The Smith review, commissioned in 2009, was an utter waste of time. It is locked away, sealed off from the survivors. Justice has been repeatedly and continuously denied to these men and their families, who have suffered enough.

Michael Shine is still alive. His conduct, and the system that allowed him to do what he did with impunity, need to be investigated in a formal, survivor-led commission of investigation, as do the activities of the Spiritans and others. This is not a new call - I have made it time and again in this House and in every other forum available to me - but it is a request to which the Government should finally accede.

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