A GROUP of about 40 sex abuse survivors in the south and southeast may use the Internet to highlight the problem and alleged cover ups by State and other authorities.
The group, called Survivors, may develop a World Wide Web site to include details of their ordeals, information about those they say abused them, and grievances about authorities which they claim are turning a blind eye.
The issue was raised at a meeting of the South East Regional Health Board this week by a Waterford councillor, Mr Gary O'Halloran, a barrister who is adviser to the group.
Mr O'Halloran, who is chairman of Waterford County Council, said he had asked the board for a detailed breakdown of about 1,500 cases of alleged child abuse under investigation in the southeast region.
Survivors had complained of not getting information they sought on abusers. He said: "If there is any further denial of information to survivors, the debate will take place far outside this region, on the World Wide Web."
"Very little assistance is given to those who have been abused" he said. "In many cases, all of the authorities are aware both of survivors of abuse and active paedophiles, and yet those who need to know most of all parents and young children have not got this information."
The group intended to focus on those responsible for vindicating the rights of the child in that situation. The group was survivor driven. The survivors would decide the policy and this would be implemented by all the members of the group.
It would be unfair to say that there was a proposal to put names of abusers or suspected abusers on the Web site. The primary focus was on a system which allowed the abuse to go on and denied information to allow survivors of abuse to heal.
"The group are up front in what they do," he added. "They are not operating behind closed doors. They are not going out making anonymous calls. Their identity is there. They publish it, and a number of them have spoken out on the basis that survivors do not see any shame or stigma attached to having been sexually abused. All the shame lies with the abuser and with those who facilitated the abuser."
The group is understood to include upwards of 40 people who are either themselves victims of abuse or are close relatives of abused children and adults.
In the southeast region alone, health board social workers received 990 new reports of alleged child abuse last year. More, than 300 concerned alleged sexual abuse and the rest involved possible physical abuse, neglect or emotional abuse.