One In Four: 'We will never know what happened to people we turned away' over lack of funds

One In Four has said it may never know what happened to people it had to "turn away" last year when it closed its waiting list because it could not cope with demand from victims of sexual abuse.

The charity said demand for its services surged ahead of the visit by Pope Francis to Ireland last year and that its application for emergency funding was unsuccessful.

Writing in the organisation's annual report, One In Four executive director Maeve Lewis said 2018 was "a difficult year" and that demand for services by adult survivors of child sexual abuse "continued to outstrip our ability to respond in a timely way".

"The situation was exacerbated by the visit to Ireland by Pope Francis in August," she said.

"Unfortunately our application for emergency funding to deal with this exceptional circumstance was unsuccessful.

"We will never know what happened to the people, many of them desperate, whom we had to turn away."

Deirdre Kenny, Advocacy Director, said: "There is no doubt the visit of Pope Francis in August 2018 reactivated old feelings of anger and frustration for many survivors", adding that many expressed their "despair and hurt with the lack of genuine acknowledgement of the harm the Church has caused".

One In Four had previously revealed a surge in demand for its services around the time of the Belfast rape trial and the annual report shows that 556 people used its advocacy service last year. Of those a quarter related to sexual abuse within the family but 23% related to abuse by a member of a clerical or religious order, while 21% related to abuse by someone outside the family.

One In Four made 63 Child Protection Notifications to Tusla last year on foot of those advocacy contacts and provided child protection information in 164 instances, as well as support in making a garda statement in 25 cases and accompanying people at trial stage in 19 cases. In total, 35 clients were supported in the criminal courts last year and 23 cases went to trial, with four guilty pleas and two guilty verdicts, with 11 trials ongoing.

In addition, psychotherapy services were provided to 121 individuals and 25 group participants. According to the report, 27 people met at assessment had attempted suicide at some point in their life. However, One In Four had to close its waiting list between June and November last year and by the end of 2018 there were 52 people on the waiting list. Of those who accessed psychotherapy last year, 20 had more than one abuser.