21 new victims accuse paedo Shine

Decision on public inquiry set to be made in autumn

- BY JOHN KIERANS

TWENTY-ONE new victims of paedophile monster Michael Shine have come forward this summer.

They are all willing to testify against him at a public enquiry if and when the Government agrees to go ahead with one.

Each one of them contacted Dignity4Patients the advocacy group representing the pervert's victims and their families since April, when the group first met Health Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill about a Commission of Investigation into the scandal.

A total of 387 former patients now claim they were sexually abused or molested by Shine. Most of them were young boys at the time.

Informed sources say the Government will decide in the autumn if a public enquiry will be held.

The proposed probe will shine a light on many institutions of the State, such as the Garda, the medical profession, the former North Eastern Health Board, and the Medical Missionary of Mary nuns, who owned and ran Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda, Co Louth, where most of the abuse occurred.

But it must be held soon because the perpetrator Shine is now 93 years old.

Earlier in the summer, Dignity-4Patients sent a proposal to the Government outlining what the Commission should look like and the avenues of investigation it needs to pursue.