John Perry (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fine Gael)

I am taking this Adjournment matter on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Frances Fitzgerald.

I thank the Deputy for raising the matter of the 116 000 hotline for missing children. The establishment of this hotline is a cross-departmental issue and the Minister intends to ensure every effort is made to have the hotline up and running as soon as possible. Under revised EU telecoms rules agreed in 2009 and, in particular, Article 27a of the universal service directive,

member states were required to "make every effort to ensure that citizens have access to a service operating a hotline to report cases of missing children. The hotline shall be available on the number 116 000." The same directive also requires member states to "ensure that citizens are adequately informed of the existence and use of services provided under the 116 numbering range, in particular, through initiatives specifically targeting persons travelling between member states". The Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources is responsible for transposing the directive into national law.

The purpose of the number range is to ensure the citizens of the member states, including disabled users, and those travelling in other member states will be able to reach certain services that have a social value by using the same recognisable numbers in all member states. The combination of having the same number for the same service is intended to ensure a specific service, regardless of the member state one is in, will always be associated with a specific number within the Community. It was expected that this would provide the services with a pan-European identity to the benefit of the European citizen who would know that the same number dialled would give access to the same type of service in member states. In essence, the purpose of the 116 000 telephone number is to provide a contact number for families if children go missing.

The allocation of specific numbers in the 116 number range in Ireland is managed by the Commission for Communications Regulation, ComReg. To date ComReg has designated the following numbers: 116111 is assigned to Childline; 116123 is assigned to Samaritans; 116006 was assigned to the crime victims helpline; and 116000 was assigned to missing children. While these numbers have been assigned, the crime victims helpline is, like the missing child hotline, not yet operational.

As of the beginning of 2011, the 116 000 telephone number is active in only 11 of the 27 EU member states. It has been assigned in 13 member states. The process of developing the 116 000 hotline has, to date, involved the Department of Children and Youth Affairs, the Department of Health, the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, the Department of Justice and Equality, the HSE and ComReg. The Department of Children and Youth Affairs has in recent months met other Departments and will co-ordinate their activities and ensure the 116 000 hotline is established.

The input of the Garda Síochána is central to the issue of missing children and the force has ultimate responsibility for the investigation of these matters. In recent years the Garda Síochána and the HSE have worked closely on this matter. As the major statutory child care authority in Ireland, the HSE recognises the value of an EU common freefone hotline for missing children. It is of the view that access to a hotline telephone number can be of great assistance to parents when a child goes missing from home, while travelling or on holidays in another European country. It has statutory responsibility for the welfare of all children and a primary responsibility for the welfare of children missing from care. The Garda Síochána and the HSE take every incident of missing children extremely seriously and are committed to ensuring no vulnerable children are exploited or ill-treated as part of its responsibility to provide care for any children in the state who are deemed not to have appropriate or satisfactory care arrangements. This includes separated children seeking asylum.

The Minister for Children and Youth Affairs intends to ensure the hotline is established. She will write to her colleague, the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Alan Shatter, to make arrangements for the progression of this issue. I again thank the Deputy who has been campaigning for the establishment of the hotline for some time. This reply indicates positive news in this regard.

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