A counselling service for survivors of institutional and clerical abuse in Ireland is attempting to reach out to victims who moved to the UK.Connect revealed just 2% of its calls are from residents in Northern Ireland and Britain, while almost four out of ten survivors are believed to live across the UK.
Figures show 10,384 calls for help made to the Dublin-based service in 2011, a 22% rise.
Theresa Merrigan, service manager, said her priority this year is to make more people aware of the service in Northern Ireland and Britain.
"We need to grow the number of callers from the UK to support Irish abuse survivors who live there," she said. "We will be working with UK based survivor support groups and other community based organisations to drive greater awareness and use of the service."
Connect was established in 2006 in the wake of a shocking State inquiry which uncovered decades of institutional abuse being covered up by Catholic church hierarchy and State authorities in Ireland.
Demand had continued to grow, with more than 42,00 calls received to date, with demand peaking when clerical abuse reports are published.
Connect is free from landlines across the UK and available Wednesday to Sunday from 6-10pm at 0800 477 477 77.
Charges occur from mobile calls with some providers.
Figures show while the annual average number of callers from the UK is only 2% of calls, approximately 80% of these calls are from family members of former residents of institutions and not the victim.
Up to 90% of all calls to Connect are repeat calls from people who want ongoing support while they wait face-to-face counselling.
Eight out of ten callers were women, 80% were aged over 49 and four out of five experienced long-term emotional and mental health problems.
With the level of education in care facilities poor, more than 70% of callers said they spent their life in manual, casual and other low paid work.