ABUSE survivors’ groups have hailed the progress made by Catholic dioceses in opening up to allow audits investigate their child protection practices.

Tánaiste Frances Fitzgerald has backed calls for the Government to find €1m to fund implementation of a 2002 national sexual abuse report, saying a “large-scale” review of the scale of the problem is “worthwhile”.

Hospital experts will be able to take and retain forensic evidence of rape with the consent of a victim who is not yet ready or willing to report the attack to gardaí.

Almost 700 men and women attended the six sexual assault treatment units across the country last year.

BARNARDOS, the children’s charity, has had to close some of its waiting lists to new referrals until after Christmas because of pressure on services.

As a nine-year-old child, Anne Kelly would lie in bed at night terrified that a baby was about to burst through her belly button.

The first group of specialist nurses qualified to forensically examine victims of rape graduated today.

Rape crisis groups say a change of attitude is needed in the courts and among the public towards victims of sexual violence and their treatment in trials.

LEADING support group One in Four has urged people to be on alert for possible depression in sex abuse survivors during the Dublin Diocese report furore, after two suicides were confirmed in the wake of the Ryan Report revelations.

A date will be set this month for the sentencing of Dublin football star Diarmuid Connolly over an unprovoked attack in which a man suffered a fractured eye-socket.

Christmas time can trigger a rise in the frequency and severity of abuse against women and children.

The number of rape prosecutions in Irish courts halved in the past six years, despite evidence that rape is on the increase. We are clearly losing that battle.

RECORDED crime figures have fallen in all categories for the first time since quarterly figures were produced by the CSO in 2006.

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.

"You have a right to say no and a right to move comfortably throughout the world without being sexually harassed."

A CANDLE flame flickered in front of framed photographs of murdered Swiss teenager Manuela Riedo as her parents launched a new foundation for rape and sexual assault victims in Dublin yesterday.

The campaign called #100Consent — a play on the phrase "100%" — aims to send a clear message that being even 1% unsure when it comes to sexual consent could have devastating consequences.