A HELPLINE for abuse victims has fielded a month’s worth of calls in seven hours following the publication of the damning report into institutional child abuse.The National Adults Counselling Service, Connect, which offers over- the-phone counselling and is funded by the HSE, said it received more than 500 calls between 6pm on Thursday and 1am on Friday and had to call on extra staff to deal with demand.
Director of Connect Anne Richardson said many of the callers were speaking for the first time in their lives about the abuse they suffered, and said the rate of calls was "unprecedented".
Ms Richardson said that the age of callers ranged from 18 to 80, and that 10 staff were required to man the phones instead of the usual two full-time staff and one part-timer.
"We were flat out," she said. "The majority of calls are coming from people who have not contacted us before.
"We are getting a lot of men [calling], which is different as usually we get most of our calls from women.
"We are also getting a lot of calls from people who have been abused in settings other than institutions."
Other agencies such as One in Four also reported a surge in calls since the report was published.
The Connect phone line usually operates between 6pm and 10pm, Wednesday to Sunday, but last night extended its services by two hours and may do so again over the weekend.
Connect received 1,400 more calls last year than in 2007.
However, this week’s report cataloguing decades of abuse in schools and other settings – and the publicity it attracted – resulted in a fresh flood of calls.
The Dublin Rape Crisis Centre (DRCC) said 73 first-time callers called its national 24-hour helpline between 9.30 and 11.30 on Thursday night.
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