The Dublin Rape Crisis Centre opened its first outreach service in a blaze of sun and optimism at Northside Shopping Centre, Coolock, yesterday. It will share the same premises as the Well Woman Centre. Ms Olive Braiden, director of the DRCC, said the occasion marked a change of strategy since it opened in the city centre in 1979.
"It has become clear that there is a need to make our services more accessible and more amenable to people, particularly women with young children, to get into town." The centre is planning to open other offices in Ballymun and Maynooth, she added. It also has its own website at www.drcc.ie.
Senator Helen Keogh (PDs), chairwoman of the Well Woman Centre, said it was a "vital part of the nation's growth" and would encompass services for women and men. Ms Mary Banotti MEP praised both the Well Woman and the rape crisis centre for the ground-breaking work they pioneered and continued to provide "combining their distinctive sets of expertise".
"I can well remember the attempts in the early days to demonise the work of the rape crisis centre as it bravely and resolutely exposed the sexual violence experienced by women. Now we know that such acts were widespread against children too," she said.