Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2026-07-16
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Simon Harris (FG), Wicklow

I thank Deputy Nash and agree with everything he says. I thank Dignity4Patients as well for the very structured and really constructive and helpful way it went about its engagement as well. 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. We saw this again the other day in relation to Waterford. 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.
I really think Lorcan Staines has done a very good job in trying to come up with what the Deputy correctly called a novel approach. Nobody wants a commission of investigation that goes on forever and ever. We want to try to get a structured way forward. I think what he is suggesting - I have not seen it before because it is novel - of six phases is a clever idea. Three of the phases should be independent document-based reviews, examining criminal complaints resulting in convictions, the response of the Medical Council and the circumstances in which Shine retired from the hospital. Phase 4 should be short and focused on current patient protection policies in Irish healthcare. Phase 5, really crucially, should be an independent truth and recovery process that should be victim-centered and non-adversarial and should run alongside that work.
Phase 6 should amount to a comprehensive investigation into the actions and events surrounding the abuse committed by Shine, followed by a report setting out, so far as the evidence permits, what was known, by whom and at what stage. 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 recommends that the publication of the Smith report be revisited only after full completion. We will now engage, as the Deputy suggests, and move forward.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-07-16/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-27T06:52:17+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-07-16