General manager Dympna Kenny made the comments as Victim Support at Court (V-SAC) launched its annual report for 2018 in Dublin yesterday.

Ms Kenny said: “We would see it within three years possibly doubling. We don’t want our figures going up, we just want to make sure every victim coming to court has someone to provide support.”

The growth in victims of crime using the service last year was entirely driven by courts outside the Criminal Courts of Justice (CCJ) in Dublin, where V-SAC is based and offers most of its services.

Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan paid tribute to the work of V-SAC volunteers at the launch of its annual report.

More than 50 per cent of cases in which V-SAC was involved last year were rapes or sexual assaults, and some 30 per cent were murders, manslaughter or attempted murders.

Throughout the year, V-SAC staff and volunteers had nearly 5,500 individual contacts with victims and volunteers gave over 1,200 days in the provision of services across the different courts.

Ms Kenny said that attending court can be a distressing experience for a victim.

She said: “A courthouse is a public building. You could have a victim arriving where the accused and their family are coming through the same doors. We would meet with them and bring them to a safe area, and then they have to sit in the courtroom in front of the accused or the accused’s family.

“We’re there as an independent, non-judgemental support for them to help them through the experience.”