Govt action will make Ireland a safer place for children

Fine Gael Cork Senator, Deirdre Clune, has today (Monday) welcomed the announcement in the Senate from Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Frances Fitzgerald TD who announced the commencement of the Missing Person’s hotline 11600. A second initiative launched by the Minister for Justice Alan Shatter TD Child Rescue Ireland, a new alert system for missing children is also welcomed.

Speaking on the Missing Person’s Hotline the Minister stated that the ISPCC has been allocated responsibility for the operation of the 116000 hotline number. The project has been allocated 150,000 euro by the EU Daphne Programme to the ISPCC for the set up and initial operation of the Missing Children’s Hotline in Ireland.

Under EU telecom rules agreed in 2009, the 116000 number is reserved in all EU member states for a missing children hotline. This is an initiative which is already prevalent in many parts of Europe.
“In essence, the purpose of the 116000 telephone number is to provide a contact number to families if children go missing. Minister Fitzgerald stated “last week, the 116000 hotline number went live. The ISPCC has put in place a temporary response that is currently heard if one rings the 16000 number. The response advises callers to report any missing child to An Garda Siochana. The ISPCC has affirmed its preferred timescale of September 2012 for the hotline to be fully operational throughout the country”.

“In Ireland the incidence of children going missing is fortunately low and we have witnessed a decrease in these figures year – on –year. Any incident of a missing child is deeply traumatic and is a life changing event for any family. Child Rescue Ireland will be similar to the internationally recognised amber alert system used whenever a child goes missing and is deemed to be at immediate risk”.

“The CRI system seeks the assistance of the public when investigating child abduction cases by publicising relevant information and details which could ultimately assist the public in identifying the abducted child, suspect or vehicles involved in the abduction. This information will then be passed on to the relevant State Authorities, namely An Garda Siochana”.

“The actions taken by Government today are the first step towards addressing concerns and ensuring that our children are safe and event of a child going missing there are measures in place to assist families. I very much welcome the two initiatives and I am very pleased to see them come to fruition” said Senator Clune.