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Updated 22:55
THE ISPCC HAS said today that it may be forced to cut Childline operating hours if the drop in donations due to the Rehab and CRC scandals continues.
Speaking ahead of the charity’s AGM this morning, Caroline O’Sullivan, Director of Services, said there was an “immediate dramatic drop” in income when the controversies arose and income is now down 20 per cent so far this year.
Childline costs €3.8 million a year to run and most of this has to be raised through donations. Some 664,000 calls were made to the helpline last year.
“If this trend continues, we are not going to be in a position to provide the services that we are at the moment,” she told reporters. “We have cut salaries, we have cut costs, we have cut all administrative costs, we’ve had redundancies and we really have nowhere else to go in terms of cost savings so out only place now is services.”
She said the majority of children call the helpline after 6pm and if the charity can not raise more money, the now 24 hour service will have to close overnight because they don’t have volunteers available at that time so that is when costs are at their highest.
“We’re looking at closing at 10 at night, when children are at their most vulnerable and very much alone and have nowhere,” she said.
Monica Rowe, who is a Childline volunteer and fundraiser for the ISPCC, said this is the time when children “can get under the covers with the phone and be heard”, especially for children who are being abused.
Am I to say “You know something – put that hurt on hold – ring us when the service is actually open”? That appals me – the thought of it appals me. I can’t even explain how much it does because we’ve told our kids for the last four years “We’re here for you 24/7″ and now we’re about to say to them “You know something, we’re not”.
Rose Cross, who sought help from the ISPCC with her daughter, said she “would not be the child she is today” without the charity.
She commented that children are now under immense pressure and “take on a lot of adult worries”. “I actually got my daughter back,” she said, adding that she was concerned about what kind of a future would be ahead if any of these vital services have to be cut.
“While everybody else is kind of being looked after with the recession, and you know, looking at everything else happening outside, we can’t forget the children,” she said.
Childline can be reached on 1800 66 66 66 or online.
Originally posted at 12:50.
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First time I’ve seen it occupied in a while in fairness
I saw it – huge admiration to the pair for caring enough to do this…
Fair enough in my book. Well done to protesters. They’ve at the very least raised awareness about this. I for one didn’t know about the failure to compensate. Best of luck.
Me neither.
They’ll never see the “united colours” of my money!
What a dump of a store…. I’ve never seen a single thing in it I’d ever want to buy…
Apart from one Garda who was on the scene the protest seemed to be a peaceful one..
Are you suggesting the gardai would cause the protest not to be peaceful?
Occupy Wool Street?
Jeez and Dunnes workers think their working conditions are bad.
So you want to live in Bangladesh?
Chill Kevin, tragedies like this one are horrific and all I am saying is in comparative terms Dunnes workers have little to be complaining about.
Well if you compare it to footballers who have no need for qualifications and get to play football all day for 150k a week they do have something to complain about. What’s your point??
Dunnes workers don’t have to work in mortal danger to earn the right to complain about their conditions
Comparitive to denis obrien they deserve a wage increase of 100000%
My point for the third time, when you hear of awful tragedies like this where thousands perish at work it puts things into perspective how good our working conditions are here.
My minimum wage flexi hour contract severely disagrees with you
Throw away the shovel, Top Cat. You’re on a loser on this one.
He is right though Said the unpopular opinion puffin
In the first photo Benetton appears to be spelled Bennetton and in the third photo survivors is spelled Survivers… I’ll bet any takers not a single one of them can find Bangladesh on a map.
In fact I’m slightly disappointed not to see an attempt to write Bangladesh… I’m sure that would have been good for a laugh.
Have these people no jobs to go to, what about the inconvenience to shoppers, wasting police resources and so on and so forth.
How about not being a heartless tool, and so on and so forth
some waffle outta you kid !
wipe the shiite off yer lip
How about looking up sarcasm in a dictionary? In case you haven’t noticed these are the usual lines thrown out about water charge protesters.
The only thing I noticed was the shiite on yer lip
It could be worse it could be between my ears.
sorry Niall – didnt get the sarcasm at all man -
Oh Niall! I hate to say this but…!
Surprised protesters are allowed in the store.
Down with that sort of thing.
Cianan his name is Gerry Lydon not Donal.
The company’s failure to own up to the disaster and pay their contribution has nothing to do with store itself though! These protesters are jeopardising the employers and employees safety and privacy, by carelessly protesting in the middle of the store, and that is by no means peaceful. They are absolutely right to raise awareness but if they want effective results, why not contact the head office of the company itself? Why not go there and protest? What about the other stores around the country? This poorly organised protest is just an attention-seeking bid from individuals who are just protesting for the sake of it.
Hi guys. Gerry here. I helped organize and was involved with today’s protest. Just a few points : Neuromacer its easy to walk into a store that isn’t expecting. Drew go out and play with the traffic! Those talking about dunnes : Yes our lives are infinitely better but as we saw with some of the thongs they were fightong for, if employers get a taste for exploitation, in a globalized world we can feel the effect here as well as regard zero hours, union involvement etc. Anca I gonna presume your not the sort who ever actually does anything judging by the tone of your “whats the point of action comment”. While Id like to dismiss you as a waste of space, unfortunately your apathy and cynicism is quote common so to summarize getting publicity for a neglected cause is better than sitting round moaning. But as for the jeopatdizing safety and privacy, go back to sleep and stop throwing around terms! Ill see you in the morning glen. So finally nothing comes of nothing. If you care about something, put some effort in and get out there! The smallest acorns can become a big tree or at least a feature on a popular website! X.
Good on ye Gerry, hope you managed to stop them making sales today.
Because it would have damn all impact . Go up to the head office here and say, please play nicely and pay the money you owe? We all know most big corporations have to be dragged kicking and screaming to do the right thing. These people have had two years to pay the money they pledged. Time for them to be shamed into stumping up.
Hi Gerry, I dont think the Dunnes strike had anything to do with underwear.
A bottle of Lynx would get rid of them protestors! I’d say there’s an awful stink of piss in that shop at the moment.
They do make some nice clothes though
have your say