25 men taking fresh civil cases against paedophile surgeon and religious order
- Dignity 4Patients
- Oct 10
- 3 min read
Updated: Oct 13
By Saoirse McGarrigle - The Journal - 11.10.2025 - [Michael Shine] - [IRELAND]
TWENTY-FIVE MEN are taking fresh civil cases against paedophile surgeon Michael Shine and the religious order that ran the hospital where he once worked.
Dublin law firm Pearse Mehigan Solicitors LLP is acting on behalf of the victims in these latest lawsuits.
Adrienne Reilly, CEO of advocacy organisation Dignity4Patients, said the new civil cases against Shine and the Medical Missionaries of Mary show that “the Shine case is still current because there are still people coming forward for the very first time”.
“They are only now, for various reasons, ready to talk about what happened to them as children. This is very normal in child sexual abuse cases,” Reilly said.
She explained that recent reporting on the case and a campaign for a Commission of Investigation to probe matters surrounding the case has forced victims to revisit painful childhood memories of abuse: “Media exposure and engagement with high level government ministers have been the main trigger for this.”
Last year The Journal published interviews with a group of victims of Michael Shine who chose to waive their anonymity for the first time in a bid to push for a public inquiry.
Hundreds of men claim that they were abused by Shine over decades while he was a surgeon at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda and operated a private practice in the Louth town.
In spite of over 380 victims coming forward, only nine of these men have had successful prosecutions in the criminal courts.
In November 2017, guilty verdicts for Shine on three counts of assaulting two teenage patients on dates between 1974 and 1976 were handed down by a jury. However, he was granted bail pending an appeal against the conviction.
Shine was eventually jailed for four years in 2019 following a separate case for abusing seven boys in his care over a period of three decades and was released in February 2022.
Medical Missionaries of Mary
To date, more than 200 victims have settled civil claims against the Medical Missionaries of Mary.
These cases were settled but The Journal reported earlier this year that the Medical Missionaries then took a “more aggressive position towards recent proceedings”.
Reilly insists that this highlights the importance of an indemnity fund, which was set aside for civil redress.
The North Eastern Health Board purchased Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in 1997 in a deal worth IR£5.5 million at the time.
The hospital, established in 1939, was owned and run by the nuns until that point.
On the 15 April 1997, the day before the purchase was announced, the then-Health Minister Michael Noonan and the Medical Missionaries of Mary signed a Deed of Indemnity and Charge.
An archived copy of the agreement, obtained by The Journal, shows that the purpose of the agreement was to indemnify the State against claims “arising out of or in connection with” potential liability in respect of possible claims of alleged abuse.
It refers to allegations of abuse at the time that it was signed in 1997: “Various incidents of sexual abuse (‘the alleged abuse’) may have occurred in the hospital during the period of ownership thereof by the Congregation.”
A fund was created and a lodgement of IR£1.6 million was made by the Congregation, into an “interest bearing deposit account with The Investment Bank of Ireland”.
The congregation’s solicitors, Arthur Cox, were “irrevocably appointed by the Order to administer the fund”.
However, two years ago, the Medical Missionaries of Mary sought permission to withdraw the funds, leading to the appointment of an independent expert to decide whether this could be permitted.
That expert has yet to make a decision.
The Medical Missionaries of Mary have been contacted for comment.
If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article and were abused in state run medical and health facilities, you can contact Dignity4Patients, whose helpline is open Monday to Thursday, 10am to 4pm.
Dignity4Patients Commentary: In our view, while active Civil Cases are in progress, any funds in an indemnity account should remain secure until all legal options for victims have been exhausted. This includes a Commission of Investigation to obtain answers and justice for those victims whose cases were never prosecuted in a Criminal Court of Law due to various systemic failures by government institutions.
