750,000 unreported abuse cases, claims group

Up to 750,000 women and men have not sought support or reported their experiences of sexual violence, according to the organisation One in Four.

At the launch of its first annual report for 2003, the national charity, that supports women and men who have experienced sexual abuse and/or sexual violence, has called upon Government to develop and implement a National Strategy to respond to sexual violence and its impacts.

One in Four also announced today the addition of two new members and an advisory member to the Board of One in Four: Professor Enda McDonagh, Dr Jane Pillinger and Fr Tom Doyle.

Speaking today, One in Four’s Director Colm O’Gorman said: “Some 1.3 million Irish citizens are living with the legacy of sexual violence and such abuse has major health and social implications that we have so far failed to address comprehensively.

"Crisis intervention is not an appropriate response to an issue that has enormous impacts on so many of our citizens and across our communities."

One in Four's Annual Report for 2003 showed it had provided 2,140 one-to-one psychotherapy sessions; 540 hours of group therapy to 156 women and men; answered 2,366 telephone calls seeking information and support and had approximately 573,000 hits on its internet message boards.