Launch of Dublin Rape Crisis Centre’s Annual Report and Annual Statistics 2009

Launch of Dublin Rape Crisis Centre’s Annual Report and Annual Statistics 2009 by Minister Mary Harney Wednesday, June 16th, 2010, at 9.30 am

A dramatic increase of 41.5% in first time callers to the National 24 Hour Helpline. Following the publication of the Ryan and Murphy Reports, the DRCC dealt with 14,289 calls in 2009

• 14,289 calls were received to the National 24 Hour Helpline in 2009, an increase of 12% compared to 2008.
• 10,914 were genuine counselling calls, an increase of 15% on 2008 figures.
• 82% of callers were female and 18% were male, an increase of 4% in calls from males compared to 2008 figures.
• 4,188 calls were from first time callers. This was a major increase of 41.5% on 2008 figures.
• 3,584 repeat calls were received. This was an increase of 5.8% on 2008 figures.
• 36% of clients reported physical violence, psychological abuse and intimidation in addition to rape, sexual assault or childhood sexual abuse.
• 286 victims of rape and sexual assault were accompanied by DRCC’s trained volunteers at the Sexual Assault Treatment Unit in the Rotunda Hospital.
• 53% of calls related to childhood sexual abuse, an increase of 8% on 2008 figures.
• * 47% of calls related to adult sexual violence including rape (38.33%), sexual assault (6.85%), sexual harassment (1.24%) and drug related rape (0.53%).

Today, Eibhlin Byrne, Chairperson of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, introduced its Annual Report and Annual Statistics 2009 and said:

“Why do we still find ourselves facing many of the prejudices which were challenged 30 years ago? Why have we still not learned how to hear what those who have suffered abuse are telling us and more importantly why do we continue to fail in our responses to them? Today, as thirty years ago, there are many needs to be met. Some remain the same but some reflect a changing Ireland….”

Counselling and Psychotherapy Services

Client profile

• 579 clients were seen for crisis counselling and psychotherapy. Of these 12 % were men and 88% were women.
• 48% of clients were dealing with childhood sexual abuse (CSA), an increase of 2% on 2008 figures.
• 43% of clients experienced adult rape.
• Overall, 52% of clients were dealing with sexual violence in adulthood, including rape, sexual assault, sexual harassment and drug rape.
• In 2009, 48% of clients had counselling for childhood sexual abuse (CSA) compared to 52% of clients who had counselling for adult sexual violence. There has been a yearly increase in clients presenting with CSA e.g. in 2003, 35% of clients presented with CSA compared to 65% who had counselling for adult sexual violence.
• 36% of clients reported experiencing other types of violence along with adult rape or childhood abuse. Of these clients, 44% had been abused as children and 56% had experienced sexual violence as an adult.
• Physical violence, psychological abuse and intimidation accounted for 81% of the additional violence reported by clients who had experienced adult rape/sexual assault and 89% of the additional violence experienced by victims of childhood sexual abuse.
• There was a 2% decrease in rape by strangers in 2009 compared to 2008.

Ellen O’Malley Dunlop, CEO of DRCC said “As our statistics show, 2009 was an unprecedented year in the demand for the services of the DRCC. This was without doubt due to the impact of the publication of the Ryan Report on Institutional Abuse in May and the Murphy Report on Clerical Sexual Abuse in the Dublin Archdiocese, in November. While the DRCC had heard a lot of these stories over its 30 years in service, the public acknowledgment and belief in what was contained in these reports, enabled large numbers of victims, for the first time, to feel vindicated and to come forward and speak out. The number of first time callers to the National 24 Hour Helpline increased by 41.5%. These calls were harrowing. They were not only from victims themselves but from family members and from the public who wanted to express their own outrage, upset and desire for something to be done. The media played a significantly positive role in bringing these validated stories to the public in a way that the victims were able to leave behind the mantle of shame that kept them silent for far too long.

Service delivery

• DRCC’s therapists delivered 4,016 client sessions in 2009. 514 client group therapy hours were delivered. Thus, a total of 4530 individual and group client hours were delivered in 2009.
• 79% of clients resided in the greater Dublin area, while 21% resided in 18 other counties. Clients were from 39 nationalities.
• *The DRCC has shown its commitment to outreaching to local communities, through the establishment of its outreach services in Coolock, the Dochas Women’s Prison and Tallaght. 16% of clients in 2009 came from the counties within easy access to our outreach counselling services in Coolock and Tallaght i.e Kildare, Meath, Wicklow, Louth, Laois and Westmeath.
• A pilot project to establish a DRCC outreach for people stabilised on methadone, in partnership with Tallaght Rehabilitation Project (TRP), was opened in the summer of 2009.
• In Coolock, services were offered three days a week and 442 sessions were completed, an increase of 2.2% on 2008 figures.
• The Outreach counselling service in Tallaght delivered 196 sessions, an increase of 22.5% on 2008.
• Dochas Outreach delivered 126 sessions, an increase of 66% on 2008 figures.

Reporting to the Gardai

Statistics provided in this section relate to 289 clients who commenced therapy in the DRCC in 2009, where the reporting status was known. It is worth noting that reporting and convictions in this context refer to clients seen by our service in the year 2009, although the reports and convictions have occurred in previous years.

• Of the 289 cases where the reporting status was known, 84 cases were reported to the Gardai, a reporting rate of 29.1%.
• 33.3% of total rape and sexual assault cases were reported.
• 22.6% of the total childhood sexual abuse cases were reported
• 7 cases were tried, resulting in 7 convictions to include guilty pleas.

Ellen O’Malley-Dunlop concluded Thirty years on, despite the climate of recession and cut backs, the DRCC continues to deliver its full range of services. In order to be able to respond to the increase in the demands on all our services we need to be confident that the much appreciated grant we receive from the HSE, which covers two thirds of our running cost, is ring fenced. This year the grant from the HSE was further cut by 5.8%. While we appreciate the promise of once off funding under the implementation plan of the Ryan Report, which will go some way towards covering the costs of the extra demands of the last year, it does not sustain the much needed services on an ongoing basis. We need a firm commitment from Government that they will support the work of the Centre and deliver on their promise to the victims of sexual crimes and the survivors of childhood sexual abuse.”

For further information please contact:
Ellen O’Malley-Dunlop, CEO – 01 661 4911 / 086 809 9618
Angela McCarthy, Head of Clinical Services – 01 661 4911