Organisations supporting survivors of child abuse have petitioned the minister for justice to delay publication of the long-awaited report of the Dublin Archdiocese Commission of Investigation.

Judge Yvonne Murphy's report, which was originally expected last autumn, is due to be delivered to
Dermot Ahern the week after next, when it will be referred to the
Attorney General for advice on parts that might have to be redacted to avoid prejudicing current prosecutions. The country's biggest Catholic diocese is bracing itself for more traumatic revelations in the almost 1,000-page report, following the release of the Ryan report in May.

But two agencies working with abuse survivors wrote to Ahern last Monday requesting that publication be deferred until September because they fear they cannot cope with the demands it will put on their services. One in Four and the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre say they are still dealing with the fall-out from the five-volume Ryan report on abuse in residential institutions.

"I know people are very anxious to have this report and we are as well but we just want to make sure we can give a proper service," said Dublin Rape Crisis Centre chief executive, Ellen O'Malley-Dunlop. "The last thing we want to do is to upset anybody. We had an avalanche after the Ryan report. We're still dealing with the aftermath of that and we will be for a long time. We've had a 2.5% cut in our grant from the HSE and our fundraising is down because of the recession but we've been able to meet the needs because our staff have given more hours. People can feel assured there is somebody at the end of our 24-hour helpline, 1800-778 888, at any time."

One in Four has taken on 476 new clients for its advocacy service in the six weeks since the Ryan report came out, compared to about 450 for a whole year in normal circumstances. The organisation has applied to minister for children Barry Andrews for emergency funding.