IRELAND
The Journal
AN OUT-OF-HOURS counselling service for victims of child abuse has said it noticed a significant increase in calls to its telephone line last night.
A spokesperson for Connect Counselling told TheJournal.ie that it expects the trend to continue over the coming days following revelations about Cardinal Seán Brady’s role in a secret 1975 inquiry into the abuse of children by paedophile priest Brendan Smyth.
“We had a noticeable spike in calls,” he said. “That is generally the pattern when the issue of clerical child abuse is raised in the media.”
Connect is a HSE-funded, out-of-hours counselling service for any adult who experienced abuse, trauma or neglect in childhood. The service is also available to partners or relatives of people with these experiences.
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