The organisation One in Four has received an increased number of calls to its helplines since the publication of a scoping inquiry into sexual abuse at religious run schools yesterday, its CEO Deirdre Kenny has said.
Speaking on RTÉ's News at One, Ms Kenny said: "People are coming forward for the first time, disclosing their abuse, many of whom are "overwhelmed with emotion and a sense of grief and loss for their childhood".
The inquiry found that there were almost 2,400 allegations of sexual abuse at 308 schools and recommended that a commission of investigation be established.
Many are contacting One in Four - which provides professional counselling to adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse - as they try to understand what happened in the school that they were in, Ms Kenny said.
Family members of those who were abused are also making contact, she added.
A Government inquiry should include all secondary schools in the State, including schools that were not run by religious congregations, Ms Kenny said.
"There's no reason to say that the culture in other schools was any different," she said.
"It would isolate segments of our communities if we didn't include those schools."
It is Ms Kenny's view that many more cases of abuse would emerge during the course of a larger scale inquiry, which she said could be one of the biggest commissions of inquiry in the State.
"The name One in Four suggests that the figures that the scoping inquiry has released are just a fraction of the reality.
'One of the biggest commissions of inquiry'
"We expect that this could be one of the biggest commissions of inquiry that we've seen in this country."
One in Four would support contributions by religious congregations to a redress or compensation scheme for those affected.
"It's important to say that compensation or redress can't undo the harm that people have been caused, but it can lead to recognition and also practical support for survivors."
Ms Kenny urged those who have yet to come forward to try and confide in someone that they trust.
After the publication of a report of this nature it can often take some people weeks or months to realise that they need to speak about what they have experienced, she said.
"People often come forward almost straight away, and then for other people, it takes time.
"The report yesterday will have activated old memories, old feelings and it may take weeks or months before people realise, 'I need to do something about this', which is to reach out to the professionals who understand this issue, or maybe a loved one or a friend who they can confide in."
Meanwhile, Ireland's Special Rapporteur on Child Protection has said there is a real urgency to "getting on with" a commission of inquiry into allegations of child abuse at Irish schools.
Caoilfhionn Gallagher added that over half of those accused of historical sexual abuse have died and many survivors are in their later years.
Yesterday, the scoping inquiry into allegations of abuse at schools run by religious orders found there were 2,395 allegations of sexual abuse in respect of 308 schools recorded by the religious orders that ran those schools.
The allegations were made in respect of 884 distinct alleged abusers.
The inquiry has recommended that the Government consider a redress scheme for survivors of historical sexual abuse in day and boarding schools.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, the human rights lawyer said it is "high time" the State took a similar attitude to the difficult parts of Irish history.
In the last 24 hours there has been an outcry about the Leinster House bike shelter and an immediate review ordered, the special rapporteur said, adding that it is high time that "we took a similar attitude to difficult parts of our history".
She added that a redress scheme should be set up as soon as possible and religious orders should contribute to it.
"I hope, given the findings here and the findings from decades of other reports which identify very similar themes: institutional defensiveness, endemic abuse, fear and neglect and targeting of particularly vulnerable children, it does seem to me that they should do the right thing before they're forced to do so for legal reasons."
Ms Gallagher said she also supports calls for a formal inquiry into abuse at schools to have a broader scope.
Survivors from non-religious run schools should not have to fight to secure an inquiry, she said, and instead the scope should encompass victims and survivors outside those uncovered in the preliminary inquiry.
She also added that there have been decades of institutional defensiveness and reputation management, particularly by Catholic Church run institutions, which means these problems have been hidden and not been dealt with adequately.
"I think we've started to overturn the rock and look at what's underneath, and now it's imperative that we get on with it."
Ms Gallagher said the results of the preliminary scoping inquiry were shocking and harrowing but not really that surprising.
"If we look back at what was uncovered in 2005 in the Ferns report, in 2009 in the commission to inquire into child abuse, in the Murphy report in 2009, the Cloyne report in 2011 and what's come out in recent years about Magdalene laundries and mother and baby homes. In some ways, this is not a surprise, and it was there in plain sight," she said.
'Extreme barriers’
Meanwhile, survivors of sexual abuse often face "extreme barriers" to coming forward to disclose abuse, according to an expert in retrospective disclosures of childhood sexual abuse.
Dr Joseph Mooney said one of the things that prompts survivors to come forward is being asked if they suffered abuse.
Speaking on the same programme, he added this was a significant component of the scoping inquiry into abuse at schools run by religious orders.
The inquiry asked people to come forward and offered a safe space.
"One of the dynamics of disclosure is feeling safe, feeling there's a space for you, feeling that you're going to be heard. We don't often have those spaces in society, and that's why we don't often have disclosure," he said.
In addition, the common experience of people feeling they were the only ones effected also feeds into a reluctance to come forward, Dr Mooney said.
He explained that this ties back to grooming dynamics.
The Assistant Professor at the School of Social Policy, Social Work and Social Justice at UCD said justice will look different to each survivor and that it is important that the Commission of Inquiry is able to adhere and adapt to that.
"Whatever format this takes, it is about being heard and being seen and being acknowledged and that goes for those who are still with us, but also those who have gone before and are now deceased," Dr Mooney said.