A MAJOR victim support group has revealed that there is a nine-month
treatment delay facing people impacted by clerical sex abuse.
One
In Four said that the National Counselling Service has a waiting list of
over 1,000 people seeking help, and that they wait nine months for
specialist treatments.
"We are expecting a flood of contacts from
people affected by the Murphy Report into Cloyne in the same way that we
had an enormous number of contacts following the publication of the
Ryan Report," One In Four executive director Maeve Lewis warned.
The
warning came as the Cloyne victims will be given special access to
Judge Yvonne Murphy's report and its findings before it is published today.
One In Four is now liaising with other support
groups to ensure that anyone impacted by the Cloyne Report has somebody
they can contact.
"We have arranged for a special Cloyne Helpline to be set up and manned by staff from the various agencies.
"We
are all pretty much at breaking point at the moment but we felt it was
vital for people to have someone to contact today. Staff have been
absolutely fantastic in making themselves available," Ms Lewis said.
The Cloyne Helpline is 1800 742800 and will be operational for several weeks.