Four out of five people attending the Wexford Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Services last year were from rural areas.
Statistics presented to the centre's annual general meeting revealed that 79 per cent of those who received personal counselling last year were from rural backgrounds, compared to 19 per cent from urban areas and 2 per cent from foreign jurisdictions.
The trend is not necessarily new but was a striking feature of the data compiled by the centre in 2001, according to its director, Ms Yvonne Pim.
The Wexford R&SASS counsels 100 to 120 people each year, most of them adult survivors of child abuse. As well as its main centre in Wexford town, it has outreach services in Gorey, Bunclody, Enniscorthy and New Ross.
The new figures, however, highlight an "urgent need" to provide an appropriate level of service in both urban and rural areas, Ms Pim believes.
Those living in rural areas can be more vulnerable because of the difficulty in accessing services and also because of the secrecy surrounding the issue of abuse.
"It is vital that people from rural areas have access to the services they need, and this includes the provision of adequate public transport. A bus to take people into the shops once a week isn't really sufficient."
Other statistics show that 79 per cent of clients last year disclosed childhood sexual abuse, a slight increase on the 2000 figure. The centre is at Clifford Street in Wexford, freephone 1800 330 033.
