The Dublin Rape Crisis Centre says there has been an significant increase in the number of victims of rape and sexual violence approaching it.

68 people went to the sexual assault unit in Dublin during July and August of this year which the centre says is more than double than the 31 from the same period last year.

Today marks the launch of the Ask Consent campaign. The three-week campaign aims to highlight the importance of consent, and encourages people to talk about it at dinner tables, in college campuses, in bars and restaurants, and on radio and television shows.

CEO of the centre Ellen O' Malley Dunlop says an increased awareness of sexual consent will lower the number of victims:

Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald welcomed the campaign, saying she is "committed to doing what I can to put in place mechanisms and actions to protect and support victims and to bring perpetrators to account."

Fitzgerald also said she would be seeking Government approval to sign The Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (the Istanbul Convention), and intends to publish a Second National Strategy on Domestic, Sexual and Gender-based Violence.

Tom Meagher, whose wife Jill was raped and murdered in Sydney in 2012, says the campaign will highlight the fact that often rapists are known to their victims:

Earlier this year the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre's annual report revealed a 30% increase in the number of first-time callers to their help line.

In total, they handled just over 12,000 counselling contacts in the year - of which more than 9,000 were genuine.

76% of those who got in touch were female, while 24% were male.