Lorcan Staines SC

To date, more than 390 men have made allegations of abuse against the now disgraced doctor, who has served a prison sentence for sexually abusing boys in his care.

Health minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill said Mr Staines would be the independent facilitator for the scoping exercise, which was requested by campaign group Dignity4Patients.

The time-bound scoping exercise — which will begin today and run for up to 16 weeks — was first announced in November 2025.

Mr Staines will fulfil his role as facilitator through direct engagement with victims and survivors of Michael Shine, working alongside Dignity4Patients.

During the process, Dignity4Patients will have the support of expert advisors Maeve Lewis, former CEO of One in Four, and Professor Phil Scraton, a specialist in inquests and inquiry models, as well as their solicitor, Diarmuid Brecknell of Phoenix Law.

Mr Staines “will receive all necessary support to ensure that a victim‑centred, trauma‑informed, human‑rights‑based approach underpins the scoping exercise and any subsequent statutory processes”, the Department of Health said.

The final report and recommendations will be submitted to the government to guide the development of an appropriate response to the issues raised, and to the needs identified, by Dignity4Patients on behalf of the victims and survivors of Michael Shine.

Mr Staines was called to the Bar in 2005 and to the Inner Bar in 2018 and has two decades’ experience in criminal, regulatory and administrative law.

He is widely recognised for his specialist work with victims and vulnerable witnesses, particularly in sensitive cases involving sexual violence, and has advised both the minister for justice and the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre on reforms to better protect vulnerable people in the criminal process.