SEVEN
out of 10 child sex abuse victims who sought help from rape crisis
centres last year were assaulted by more than one person.
The Rape Crisis Network of Ireland (RCNI), which compiled the statistics, said they were "shocked" by the findings.
The figure comes as separate statistics reveal that only 22 out of 98
convicted sex offenders, eligible for release between last month and
next September, have undergone any sex offender programme while in jail.
Fine Gael justice spokesman Alan Shatter, who released the
figures, said the public would be "very concerned" by the revelations.
RCNI director Fiona Neary said 69% of survivors who attended rape
crisis centres in 2009 and who had been sexually abused as a child had
been assaulted for more than one perpetrators.
"We have to
say, even within the rape crisis sector, this figure shocked us," said
Ms Neary. "We didn’t quite believe it and checked it and it’s valid. We
have to keep an eye on this figure, this level of multiple abuse."
Ms Neary said 1,588 people received counselling and support from 13 rape crisis centres in 2009.
"Hundreds and hundreds of women, men and teenagers continue to contact
rape crisis centres every year in Ireland. Most are seeking help for
abuse that happened in their childhood, by someone in their family, and
that abuse is still affecting their daily lives. For another one-third
of survivors they have been raped as an adult. Rape and child sexual
abuse remain common and endemic in Ireland."
Some 60% of
people seeking help were abused as a child and it generally took them
20 years to seek help. Some 30% were attacked as an adult, while 9% were
violated both as a child and an adult.
Ms Neary said one
positive development was a sharp rise in the number of survivors who
reported their crime to the gardaí: 38% of adult survivors and 22% of
people abused as a child.
This compares to 2002 figures of 6%
and 8% respectively. "This is fantastic and a vindication of gardaí and
the work they do," said Ms Neary.
She said that by the end of
2009, 190 former patients of former surgeon Michael Shine had contacting
centres alleging sexual assault and that 90 allegations were being
investigated by gardaí.
She said they wanted to see full
implementation to last year’s Ryan and Murphy reports, including the
hiring of the necessary social workers. She also warned about cutting
budgets to rape support and family support services.
"It’s not
about causing panic, but the reality is if people are not supported to
tell, if not support to report, perpetrators will not be held to
account, so we’ve got to find other ways to keep these supports in
place. Of course we are very concerned if any of these supports would be
stripped back from families, because the majority of the abuse in the
family home."
Professor of History at UCD Diarmuid Ferriter
said thanks to research like this and the Ryan report "never again can
it be said we did not know what was happening". He said the country
should begin to treat this as a "national crisis".
Rape findings: Stark reality of sex abuse
* Nine out of 10 survivors seeking help from rape crisis centres knew the perpetrator.
* Half of survivors sexually abused as a child were attacked by a family member.
* Only 3% of children abused were assaulted by a stranger.
* More than 30% of boys abused were abused by an authority figure, compared with 5% of girls.
* One in 10 female survivors experienced sexual violence as both a child and adult.
* More than 70% of children abused were abused over a period of years, compared with 22% of adult survivors.
SIC: IE/IE