Three in five child sex abuses committed by family

THREE out of five reported cases of child sex abuse are perpetrated by a male relative, while a further quarter are carried out by a person known to the victim, apart from a direct family member, the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre (DRCC) said yesterday.

The involvement of family places difficult legal constraints on care providers, leaving the teenage and child victims "in a perilous state", the agency said.

They also have serious concerns about the growing number of young people reporting rape and other sexual assaults, as one in five callers to the DRCC's 24-hour helpline last year was aged 15-17.