Helpline processes month’s worth of calls in 7 hours after report published

A HELPLINE for abuse victims has fielded a month’s worth of calls in seven hours following the publication of the damning report into institutional child abuse.

The National Adults Counselling Service, Connect, which offers over- the-phone counselling and is funded by the HSE, said it received more than 500 calls between 6pm on Thursday and 1am on Friday and had to call on extra staff to deal with demand.

Director of Connect Anne Richardson said many of the callers were speaking for the first time in their lives about the abuse they suffered, and said the rate of calls was “unprecedented”.