Speaking in the Dáil recently, Tánaiste Simon Harris said the case of Michael Shine bears a similarity to the offending and failures surrounding the Bill Kenneally case.
TD Ged Nash raised the issue of the former surgeon who is alleged to have abused over 400 people.
“A light must be shone into the environment that allowed a prolific paedophile to operate within our public health service, with impunity and unchallenged for over 30 years,” said Nash.
“Questions have to be asked of the former North Eastern Health Board, the order that ran the Lourdes hospital, the Garda, the Medical Council, the DPP and other agencies which knew very well what was going on.
“The dogs in the street in Drogheda knew what Shine was doing to young boys and men and that is why a statutory inquiry is of critical importance,” he added.
This has an unfortunate resemblance to the case of Bill Kenneally, who used his high profile public position to hide his offending over decades. The South Eastern Health board was also found to have failed the children involved by not acting a psychiatric report.
In relation to these comments, the Tánaiste acknowledged that the Shine case has similarities to the case of Bill Kenneally, which he says went on for an ‘extraordinarily long period of time’.
“We saw this again the other day in relation to Waterford,” said Harris.
“There is a case of who knew what, when and how could this abuse have been stopped. It went from 1964 to 1990, which is an extraordinarily long period of time.”
The Tánaiste also acknowledged that the delay in justice between the two cases is simply not good enough.
“The Deputy is right that Shine being sent to a prison cell, where he belongs, is justice in one part but it is nowhere near enough,” he said.
Similar to the Kenneally case, the Tánaiste has called for a thorough but efficient commission of investigation into Shine’s offending. The commission of investigation into Bill Kenneally’s offences culminated in a State apology last month.
“It should examine the full extent to which relevant bodies receive complaints, information, warning signs, indications of risk, what actions they took, whether their actions were adequate and timely,” he explained.
“We will now engage, as the Deputy suggests, and move forward,” the Tánaiste added.
AARON KENT Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme
