ABUSE GROUPS AT OVERLOAD; Sex victims' chief urges new report delay.

Byline: SARAH BARDON

A NEW file on clerical sex abuse should be delayed as support groups are struggling to cope with Ryan report victims, campaigners pleaded yesterday.

Director of One In Four Maeve Lewis and Dublin Rape Crisis Centre chief Ellen O'Malley-Dunlop have written to Justice Minister Dermot Ahern begging him to delay the probe into the Dublin archdiocese until autumn.

They say the groups cannot deal with the surge in demand for their services and have warned their resources are already at breaking point.

Ms Lewis said: "We are living in total dread of the release of the Dublin Commission report."

She added the publication of Ryan in May which revealed the harrowing details of the abuse meted out by brutal and paedophile priests have pushed One In Four's resources to the brink.

Over the past six weeks, 476 people have contacted the group for the first time. It received 70 first-time callers in one day alone.

Ms Lewis said over 200 people have been referred to their psychotherapy service.

She added: "A significant number of the people who have come forward to us as first-time survivors looking for advocacy and psychotherapy in the past six weeks have actually been men who are former pupils at Christian Brother-run schools.

"For them there has not been a redress scheme or a commission to inquire into their particular situation.

"Our staff have responded magnificently. They are coping with a level of demand way over the resources at hand.

"It is impossible for people to continue to work at this level of intensity without falling short of meeting the needs of people who are accessing our services."

The Dublin Archdiocese Commission of Investigation should be handed over to Mr Ahern in the next 10 days.

Archbishop of Dublin Dr Diarmuid Martin has said the report is likely to reveal thousands of children suffered abuse from priests and vowed "it will shock us all".

Ms Lewis and Ms O'MalleyDunlop are now begging Minister Ahern to put off releasing the report until the autumn "at the earliest".

Ms Lewis said: "We need EUR130,000 extra to fund the provision of one extra psychotherapist to deal with the near-doubling of the work.

"Some of the victims just wish to speak to someone - maybe only briefly - before building up the courage to go a step further and make further contact.

"It's the first step on the road to dealing with what happened to them."

CAPTION(S):

CONCERN Maeve Lewis