A major conference is being held in Dublin today to mobilise support for a campaign to help survivors of abuse.

"A New Understanding" aims to make it easier for survivors of sexual abuse to tell their story and to restructure the justice system in how deals with them.

The grassroots network is being fronted by a number of high profile survivors of abuse, including Fiona Doyle whose father was recently sentenced for abusing her as a child for more than a decade.

Her case gained national attention when her father was granted bail pending an appeal, only for Mr Justice Paul Carney to reverse his ruling and apologise to Ms Doyle three days later.

Today, Fiona Doyle will speak at the conference in Dublin, along with fellow abuse survivors Cynthia Owen and sisters Joyce, June and Paula Kavanagh.

Their campaign is calling for abuse victims to be treated as victims and not witnesses in prosecutions. It also wants compulsory education for judges and for a change to the courts system to make the process easier for victims.

(ANU conference at the Camden Court Hotel, Dublin 2)