As gardaí can no longer automatically pass on contact details of victims of crime to support organisations, this can be "the difference between victims getting assistance and victims not getting assistance", the launch of a Co Kerry branch of the Federation for Victim Assistance has heard.
Advice from the data protection commissioner in 2001 led to new procedures between the Garda and Victim Support and other organisations.
This meant the traditional close co-operation where gardaí automatically passed on contact details of victims of crime to bona fide support organisations had to be revised, said Insp James O'Connor.
The new procedures could sometimes be a hindrance, he said at the launch in Tralee of the Listowel and Tralee branch.
Derek Nally, president of Victim Assistance, which now has branches in nine counties, said the effect can be the difference between victims getting assistance and not getting it.
The organisation provides emotional and practical support to victims of crimes such as burglary, assault and robbery.
It also supports the family and friends of a murder or manslaughter victim. Victims attending court and tourists are also supported.
Mr Nally said people generally did not understand the trauma victims went through following a crime, and this trauma could occur irrespective of how minor the crime was.
Initial shock was often replaced with anger and then resentment of authorities, such as the Garda, because the crime had occurred in the first place.
"Then the two worst aspects, self-blame and guilt, set in," said Mr Nally.
He said victims of sexual crimes in particular blamed themselves for being at that place at that time.
National chairwoman of Victim Assistance, Maireád Fernane, said: "Each crime creates a victim. In fact, each crime creates 20 victims. Families become victims themselves. It's like a ripple in the water."
She said victims were increasingly afraid to talk about the crime openly for fear they would be targeted.
Yesterday a spokesman for the Data Protection Commissioner said it remained the commissioner's position that victims of crime must be aware of, and consent to, the passing of their personal details to victim support organisations. "Already the victims of crime, it is all the more important that the right of such people to keep their personal information confidential, in respect of any third party, should be respected," he said.