Huge surge reported in calls to helplines

The Irish Times - Friday, July 15, 2011

Cían Nihill

Victim support: helplines are dealing with a “huge surge” in calls following the publication of the Cloyne report.

The Dublin Rape Crisis Centre said yesterday more than 300 calls had been received between their organisation and fellow helplines, Connect, One in Four and Towards Healing in a 15-hour period following the release of the Cloyne Report on Wednesday.

Chief executive of the centre Ellen O’Malley-Dunlop said there would “usually be only a smattering of calls over a night, maybe 10”.

The HSE has set up a special Cloyne diocese helpline to co-ordinate the different services available to those who have been affected.
A spokeswoman said that qualified counsellors were on hand to assess and refer on callers to where they would get the best help.
“The kind of calls we are getting in are from people who were affected by abuse but also we have a lot of calls from people who want to express their hurt or anger,” the spokeswoman said.

Ms O’Malley-Dunlop described the stories coming out about what people had been put through as “quite horrendous”.
“Sometimes they can’t find the words. We get silent calls, which is something we are used to. People pick up the phone but then just find it so difficult.”