There was a 31 per cent increase in the number of calls to the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre helpline last year - the highest level ever recorded.
Sourced from Dublin Rape Crisis websiteThe figure is contained in the organisation's annual report, which also reveals 18 to 23 year olds accounted for just over a fifth of calls, while 85 per cent were women and over 15 per cent were men.
More than 93 per cent of DRCC therapy clients were female - 62 per cent having experienced sexual violence as an adult, while the remainder had been abused as children.
DRCC Chief Executive Noeline Blackwell, said the spike in figures was not surprising and attributed them to the ending of covid restrictions.
'Interestingly the calls to the helpline in 2022 were up more than normal and we really kind of attribute that to the country getting back to normal to some extent after covid but there was a significant increase in the number of people that were supported over the national 24 hour helpline, 31 per cent over the previous year.'
