ABUSE victim support services will join forces this week to respond to the massive outpouring expected from the publication of the Dublin Archdiocese report. Five support services will run one helpline in a bid to enhance the provision of assistance for victims of clerical sexual abuse.
One central phone line will be manned from dawn until the late hours seven days a week, it was confirmed last night.
The Dublin Rape Crisis Centre (DRCC) said it had specifically trained support staff to help run the line.
Chief executive of the DRCC, Ellen O’Malley-Dunlop, said: "We’ve been working on this over the last couple of months... Victims will be referred to what services suits them best."
The helpline initiative involves support teams from the DRCC, One in Four, the Faoiseamh helpline run by the religious orders, the HSE’s National Counselling Service as well as the support service Connect.
The number 1800 670 700 will be manned from Monday to Friday from 8am to 2am, and from Saturday to Sunday, 11am to 2am.
The service will operate as of tomorrow.
Meanwhile, a number of victim support groups yesterday continued to seekanswers as to why details of the long-awaited inquiry into clerical abuse in the Dublin diocese had been leaked over the weekend ahead of its official release on Thursday.
"This leak to the press is extremely irresponsible and a further example of the lack of appreciation of the damage that continues to be visited upon victims and their families," Ms O’Malley-Dunlop said.
Reports that gardaí were addressing concerns about the leaked details about the Department of Justice-commissioned inquiry, were not confirmed by the Garda Press Office.
Elsewhere, Fine Gael last night called for a separate report on the assets of the religious orders to be released.
The party’s children’s spokesman Alan Shatter said: "I believe it is now two weeks since the Minister for Education has received the report of this committee. It is a mystery why the Government has not made the report public.
"The Government should reveal what additional offers of funding have been made by identifiable congregations and orders for the benefit of sufferers of abuse."
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