Relevant Government departments have all denied knowledge of a telephone call strongly criticising public statements by the director of the One in Four organisation which supports victims of sexual abuse.
The allegation was made at a press conference yesterday when One in Four announced it is to shut down at the end of the month because of a dispute with the Department of Health and Children over the funding of its counselling programme.
The director, Mr Colm O'Gorman, claimed he was warned on September 12th last via a phone call to a colleague that his "personal sabre rattling" where Church and State were concerned was "creating 'a pissed-offedness' in sections of Government".
It had suggested he was "biting the hand that fed him", he added.
The confidential phone call to a colleague of Mr O'Gorman's asked that the message be conveyed to the support group's director.
In previous weeks, Mr O'Gorman had been publicly critical of the Government's handling of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse, including the resignation of Ms Justice Mary Laffoy.
The phone call coincided with a refusal by the Department of Health to agree funding for the group.
A reluctant Mr O'Gorman told the press conference that when he was told about the phone call he immediately contacted the Taoiseach's programme manager, Mr Gerry Hickey, who agreed to meet him the following Monday, September 15th.
At the meeting Mr O'Gorman claimed Mr Hickey assured him the phone call did not come from the Taoiseach's Department, but suggested it may have come from either the departments of Health, Education or Justice.
Last night Mr Hickey confirmed to The Irish Times the meeting on September 15th took place and was about such a phone call.
He recalled assuring Mr O'Gorman it did not come from the Taoiseach's Department.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Health said she had no idea what Mr O'Gorman was referring to and rejected any suggestion that the Department's decision on funding where One In Four was concerned had anything to do with criticisms of the Government by Mr O'Gorman.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Justice said "not this Department", when asked about the call, while a Department of Education spokeswoman said the Department had no comment, as "it's impossible to know".
Mr O'Gorman announced "with deep sadness and regret"that the One in Four charity was being "forced to shut down".
He said all staff were given statutory redundancy notice last Thursday. Despite "every effort" by the organisation to resolve the crisis with Government it would "shut down due to the withholding of €81,000", he said.
It was "devastating after all the incredible hard work and dedication shown by the 16 staff here at One in Four.... we have been forced to the point of collapse by the incompetence, or worse, the ill will, of the Department of Health and Children", he said.
Of particular concern was that "the organisation has now been prevented from playing a role in the Ferns Inquiry into clerical abuse".
A statement from the Department of Health said its officials hoped to meet One in Four representatives this week to discuss the difficulties over the counselling service which is at the centre of the row.
The Department had "fully supported the establishment of the One in Four organisation", it said.
