Scores of victims of sexual abuse in the Dublin archidiocese contacted counselling services yesterday after the publication of a report showed archbishops covered up decades of widespread abuse.
The Health Service Executive said its National Counselling Service had seen a 300 per cent increase in the number of calls since the publication of the report.
Counsellors said the report triggered victims' memories and prompted large numbers to speak out for the first time.
Faoiseamh, a counselling service set up by the Catholic Church, said calls had trebled this week, and the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre (DRCC) saw the number of calls from victims jump to more than 140 on Wednesday alone from a daily average of 25.
"There was an avalanche of calls," Ellen O'Malley-Dunlop, the DRCC chief executive, told Reuters.
"Most of them were first-time callers in a lot of distress whose memories were triggered. They felt terribly bad that they hadn't spoken out themselves before, but the nature of this crime is that it silences people," she added.
Dublin's Rape Crisis Centre said the number of callers rose 300 per cent in the period after the release in May of the so-called Ryan report, but rose even more sharply on Wednesday.
"Last night it was much higher and while we had older people calling during the Ryan report, last night there were a lot of younger men in their 30s who were utterly distraught," Ms O'Malley-Dunlop said.
Victims' groups urged Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern to extend the investigations to all archdioceses in the country, but the Auxiliary Bishop of Dublin Eamonn Walsh said this morning that time and money should instead be spent on improving child protection services.