Abuse support group One in Four received were given renewed hope today that it would remain open following talks with the Minister for Health, Mr Martin today.
One in Four announced it was to close at the end of the month due to lack of Government funding but earlier today it received a bosst when it was revealed staff had offered their services for no pay and the rock group U2 had donated €40,000.
Staff made their offer to allow adequate time to support their clients to come to terms with the shut down of the organisation.
Expressing its gratitude to U2 and its manager Mr Paul McGuinness, One in Four said: "Their donation of €40,000 will allow the organisation to continue to work to support our clients and give us an opportunity to secure funding that will allow us to work towards long-term survival of theorganisation should the Government fail to honour their commitment to properly fund the service.
Director of One in Four, Mr Colm O'Gorman, on Monday announced "with deep sadness and regret" that the One in Four charity was being "forced to shut down" due to a dispute with the Department of Health who are the alleged to be withholding €81,000 of funding.
In an earlier statement regarding the offer from staff the charity said: "Staff at the charity decided that if the Department of Health and Children and this Government fail to honour their commitment to fund the service they can not and will not abandon the hundreds of clients that they work to support each and every week".
Mr O'Gorman told ireland.comstaff told him during the week that they hoped that by offering their services for free then they could delay the closure of the charity until at least the end of the year and ease the shock to their clients of the October 31st shutdown date.
Yesterday, Mr Martin told The Irish Timeshis Department had provided the group with "about €633,000 which is a significant amount in just a short 17 months".
After this evening's meeting, the Department Health issued a statement saying the Minister of State Mr Brian Lenihan will hold a number of follow-up meetings with the organisation to look at the financial issues "and to agree a detailed service plan for next year".
One in Four was established in London by Mr O'Gorman in 1999. It set up in Ireland in July 2002 and opened its doors for services in February of this year.
The organisation provides therapeutic support to 96 women and men every week: 76 in individual therapy, 16 in group therapy and 10 in an open group. The waiting time for a counselling session at the charity is between five and eight days. Mr O'Gorman said that in some health board regions the waiting time for a counselling session could be as high as 21 months to two years.
"We provide an efficient and cost-effective service and are a damn fine example of what the Minister for Finance wants from other ministers in terms of value for money," said Mr O'Gorman.
There are 14 people employed at the charity, eight full-time and 6 part-time.