The One in Four charity, which supports victims of sexual violence, has called for a national strategy on childhood sexual abuse.
Maeve Lewis, One in Four's executive director, said there had been separate responses to clerical and institutional abuse but there were voids in the system, particularly where abuse within the family was concerned.
"Rather than a fragmented approach to sexual abuse, we need to have all agencies working together regardless of where the abuse takes place," she said.
"This will ensure more proactive and timely responses both in prevention and in service provision for people who experienced sexual abuse."
She was speaking at the publication of One in Four's 2007 annual report. The organisation provided more than 5,192 individual psychotherapy sessions last year and almost 2,000 hours of group therapy. A further 77 people were on the waiting list for psychotherapy services.
For most people who contacted One in Four last year, it was the first time they had disclosed experiences of childhood sexual abuse.
Some 15 male and female sexual offenders accessed its perpetrator assessment and treatment programme.
The report shows that the majority of sexual offenders were men, but 3 per cent of clients reported being abused by a woman.
One in Four was set up by Colm O'Gorman five years ago. He was the victim of clerical abuse in his childhood. Mr O'Gorman left the
organisation late last year to work with Amnesty International.
