Minister for Health appoints Facilitator for Scoping Exercise in response to the victims and survivors of Michael Shine

The Minister for Health, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill TD, has announced the appointment of Mr Lorcan Staines Senior Counsel (SC) as the independent facilitator for the Scoping Exercise requested by Dignity4Patients on behalf of the victims and survivors of Michael Shine.

The appointment follows the agreement by Government in November 2025 to a time-bound scoping exercise. Work will commence today and run for up to 16 weeks.

Mr. Staines will fulfil his role as facilitator through direct engagement with victims and survivors of Michael Shine, working alongside their NGO support group, 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 final report and recommendations will be submitted to 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.

Notes

Lorcan Staines SC 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.